Lufthansa Cargo is now banking on Asian freight demand as the North Atlantic begins to dry up. Particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger airlines had shifted further towards their existing or newly created air cargo businesses to capitalize on the growing worldwide demand. It was also a safer bet: worldwide freight needs to continue to flow even if lockdowns limit passenger travel.
The air cargo market is facing a bit of a slowdown now, though, particularly when it comes to destinations in North America. Demand in Asia & Russian airspace bans In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Lufthansa Cargo’s Chief Financial Officer Frank Bauer said that Lufthansa Cargo has actually increased its Asian operation, in stark contrast to its passenger-focused counterpart which has been cutting capacity. "We have shifted freighter capacity from North American routes to Asian routes.
The reason for this is the sharp increase in transport demand combined with a simultaneous decline in belly capacity on passenger flights, which has decreased due to the overflight ban over Russia." Indeed, aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that Lufthansa passenger flights to Asia are down 3% for the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2024. More illustratively, compared to the same period in 2019, passenger flights for the first six months of this year are down 10%.
It is also worth looking at the destinations most impacted. For the first half of this y.