IAG Cargo witness 29.5% revenue dip & 19.7% rise in traffic

IAG Cargo saw its revenues fall in the third quarter of the year despite its volumes increasing. The airline group, which includes British Airways and Iberia, registered a 29.5% decline in revenues during the period to €263m. Meanwhile, air cargo traffic increased by 19.7% to 1.1bn cargo tonne kms. The reason for the decline in revenues despite higher volumes is a drop off in airfreight rates compared with a year ago. For example, the latest monthly rate data from the Baltic Exchange Airfreight Index (BAI) shows that rates from Hong Kong to Europe were down 38.9% in September compared with a year earlier. IAG’s own figures show that in the third quarter, its revenues per cargo tonne km fell 41.1% year on year to 23.11 cents. However, this is still higher the pre-Covid 2019 level for the third quarter of 19.99 cents.
Commenting on the performance of its cargo business, IAG said: “Our Cargo business continues to see declines in revenue and profit as industry supply continues to exceed reducing demand for air freight. Cargo yields remain above 2019 levels.”