IAG Cargo announced third-quarter results of €236 million ($295.8 million) in commercial revenue (flown revenue plus fuel surcharges). This compares to €256 million ($320.9 million) for the same period in 2013. IAG said that on a “like for like basis,” adjusting the prior year’s figures to reflect a directly comparable freighter operation, commercial revenue increased 7.6 per cent versus last year. The company noted that following the cessation of the long-haul freighter leasing contract with GSS on April 30, 2014, IAG Cargo ran a significantly reduced freighter program.
IAG said that volumes of 1,331 million cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs) on a like for like basis for the quarter represent an increase of 12 percent compared to Q3 2013, while capacity increased by 4.1 per cent. Overall yield (commercial revenue per CTK) for the quarter was down 3 percent at constant exchange rates.
“This is a positive third quarter for the business and we’ve seen good load factor improvements across markets, despite an increase in capacity,” said Steve Gunning, (right) CEO at IAG Cargo. “The strong performance of our premium products has offset continued underlying price pressure, particularly in the North American market, with Constant Climate, our market leading product for temperature sensitive freight, delivering impressive volumes. While we have seen a decrease in yield, this is primarily due to flying increased sector lengths. More generally, while trading is good, there are still fundamental issues with the market in terms of excess capacity.”