News / Ecommerce driving increased demand on Asia-Europe lanes for LH Cargo

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Lufthansa Cargo’s major routes performed well in the first quarter, with capacity boosted by an additional B777 freighter at the end of last year, according to a senior executive.

And the German carrier is expecting an “unchanged market situation” in the current quarter.

“As ever, Asia-Europe tradelanes are important lanes,” Felix Brueckner, head of product, speed and service offer, told The Loadstar.

He said this was borne out by an increase of 18% in freight tonne km sold in the Asia-Pacific region in the first three months, compared with Q1 23, with e-commerce a key driver. This was supported by a 15% year-on-year increase in capacity, expressed as available cargo tonne-km.

“Our growing freighter fleet, currently 17 long-haul aircraft, enables us to steer our network flexibly, in keeping with our customers’ needs and geopolitical events. And we are prepared to adjust our network even at short notice,” added Mr Brueckner.

“As a result of attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Lufthansa Cargo can support the securing of global supply chains by air. This is reflected in a change in bookings from South-east Asia.”

He noted: “We see growth in general cargo and perishables, as well as in our Passive Temperature Support product. And our newest product, speed td.Zoom, which offers top priority and the shortest transit times, is seeing buoyant demand. This shows we are on the right track.”

In this quarter, Lufthansa Cargo expects ecommerce to continue to drive demand from Asia, while the threat to ships in the Red Sea will continue to put constraints on air cargo capacity. And, he said: “We expect our business out of Europe and North America to be more or less unchanged.”

Lufthansa has a seven more B777Fs on order, one of which will join the fleet this year, with the others scheduled for delivery by 2030.

Cargo volumes handled in March at Lufthansa Cargo’s home base of Frankfurt Airport maintained a positive trend over the quarter, increasing 6.3% year on year, to 178,898 tonnes, “despite several strike waves”, added operating company Fraport.

January-March volumes at Frankfurt totalled 486,667 tonnes, up 6.5% on the first quarter of last year.