Asia business drives Air France-KLM cargo revenue in Q22024

Air France-KLM Group reported a four percent decline in traffic cargo revenue at €462 million for the second quarter of 2024 while the first half of the year saw revenue drop 14 percent to €903 million.

Cargo carried increased three percent to 218,000 tonnes in the second quarter but unit revenue based on capacity declined four percent to €12.98 cents, says an official release.

While capacity was up marginally at 3.6 billion, traffic was up three percent at 1.6 billion. Load factor was up one percent at 45.6 percent.

For the first half of 2024, unit revenue per capacity declined 16 percent to €12.88 cents, capacity was up 2.5 percent at 7 billion and traffic was up three percent at 3.2 billion.

"The significant year-over-year unit revenue reductions are behind us in the cargo activity. The Group experienced a limited unit revenue reduction of -4.4 percent compared to the second quarter last year. The beginning of the second quarter was still slightly impacted by the challenging implementation of a Cargo IT system including book away in April and May (Q2 impact: €15 million) while June showed an unit revenue improvement of three percent.

"In particular, Asia is performing well, driven by e-commerce and the Red Sea disruption. 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."

Transavia available capacity (ATK) was at 3.6 billion, revenue tonne kilometres (RTK) was up three percent at 1.6 billion.

Air France ATK was up four percent at two billion and RTK was up three percent at 811 million. KLM available capacity was down four percent at 1.5 billion but RTK was up 2.5 percent at 816 million.

Air France-KLM Group operates six cargo aircraft at the end of the second quarter, the release added.