IAG Cargo witnesses declined cargo revenues in Q12023

IAG Cargo registered a decline in its cargo revenues in the first quarter of the year despite seeing demand decrease.

The cargo business, which includes British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, registered a 25.2% year-on-year decrease in first-quarter air cargo revenues to €323m, while traffic increased 13.6% to 1.1bn cargo tonne kms.

The increase in demand reflects the group’s expanding belly capacity as passenger operations continue to ramp up following the Covid pandemic.

Meanwhile, rates across the industry have declined this year as a result of weaker cargo demand and extra capacity. This is reflected in a fall in cargo yields.

“The IAG Cargo business continues to focus on maximising its contribution to the Group,” IAG said in its quarterly results statement. “As shipping capacity normalises we are seeing pressure on yields.

“Yields were 34.2% lower than in the previous year, reflecting the increase in global passenger airline capacity across the industry and the normalisation of the global supply chain disruption seen in the first quarter of 2022,”

IAG pointed out that cargo performance remained above pre-Covid levels; revenues were up €48m, or 17.5%, versus the same period in 2019, with cargo yields up 45.4% versus 2019.