Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) recorded a decline in revenues in the second quarter of the year but is looking to build its presence in Asia to capitalise on growth in the market.
The Franco-Dutch carrier group registered a 10% year-on-year decline in cargo revenues to €546m, while cargo tonnes were up 2.6% 218,000 tons.
However, in June revenues in the cargo business were above last year, AFKLMP said.
Capacity in the quarter was up 1.1% and the cargo load factor improved by 1.1 percentage points to 45.6%.
While revenues were down, the carrier said that it had moved beyond the significant declines it was registering last year – for 2023, cargo revenues were down 22.9% as a result of weak overall market conditions.
The group added that performance in April and May was still affected by the “challenging implementation” of a new cargo IT system.
This had an impact of around €15m in the second quarter.
AKLMP said that its business out of China was performing well driven by e-commerce and it is looking to add extra capacity to the market to capitalise on the growth.
“Asia is performing well driven by e-commerce and the Red Sea disruption,” the group said.
“In response to market dynamics, a part of the group’s full freighter capacity is being redeployed to Asia. Additionally, a block agreement was signed with China Cargo Airlines, marking a new step in cooperation and enhancing our presence in this major cargo market.”
While figures from data providers show that overall air cargo rates have been up during the second quarter of the year, this has largely been driven by volumes out of Asia and in particular e-commerce out of China.
Rates from other markets, for example Europe-North America, have been declining and those without a strong presence in China and in e-commerce have not been benefitting from that particular boom.
E-commerce companies also often have enough regular volumes to justify chartering their own aircraft, meaning they skip out the need to use network airlines.
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