Slow trade lingers in European carrier traffic stats for July 

In July’s first look, European carriers reported mixed results, indicating that the impact of protectionist policies on global trade and major carriers’ traffic lingers. Both Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM reported year-over-year declines in cargo traffic, while International Airlines Group’s July performance was flat, in comparison to 2018. Only Turkish Cargo reported significant volume growth for the month. 

For the first seven months of 2019, two of the four carriers tracked by Air Cargo World reported positive y-o-y results, while Air France–KLM’s growth for the first half of the year flatlined in July. To be fair, summer months are traditionally slower periods for air cargo, so perhaps major carriers will see a return in traffic as the industry moves into the peak season. 

For a closer look at carrier results: 

Air France-KLM’s July traffic declined by 5.8% y-o-y to 694 million FTKs. Both Air France and KLM saw similar declines in traffic, of 5.7% y-o-y to 317 million FTKs, and 5.9% to 377 million FTKs, respectively, for the month. For the first seven months of the year, the group’s total cargo activity was down 0.1% y-o-y to 4.8 billion FTKs. Year-to-date, Air France’s demand was up 3.9% y-o-y to 2.1 billion FTKs, while KLM saw a decline of 3.2% to 2.7 billion FTKs.  

International Airlines Group reported slight increase in traffic for July, compared to the same month the year prior. Across the Group, traffic rose by 0.6 % y-o-y to 465 million FTKs. Traffic increased at Aer Lingus and Iberia, which both account for a relatively small share of IAG’s overall cargo traffic, and declined slightly at British Airways, which accounts for most of the Group’s traffic. Over the first half, IAG’s cargo traffic was up 1.0% to 3.2 billion FTKs. 

Lufthansa Group reported flat y-o-y July traffic, which remained steady at 897 million FTKs. The lack of growth can be traced to Lufthansa Cargo’s Asia-Pacific traffic, which declined 8.5% y-o-y, offsetting growth in all other regions that ranged from single-digit (Americas/Europe) to sharply higher (Middle East/Africa). Over the first seven months 

Turkish Cargo reported a 12.2% y-o-y increase in cargo volumes during July, to just over 134,000 tonnes. For the first seven months of 2019, cargo volumes are up 8.8% y-o-y to more than 850,000 tonnes. In a statement, Turkish Cargo said it has “increased its market share to 4.0% from 3.9% across the [air cargo] industry, which shrank by 4.0%.”