The fall in revenue comes as the global air cargo market suffers weak demand with IAG Cargo reporting revenue per cargo tonne kilometre was down 37.6% to €27.11.
Revenue was up 8.5% compared to 2019 and tonnage is continuing to recover, going up 6.5% to 294,000 tonnes, which is still 15.3% below 2019.
Tonnage was impacted by the pandemic, falling from 346,000 tonnes in the first half of 2019 to 232,000 tonnes in 2020 before climbing to 248,000 tonnes in 2021 and 276,000 tonnes in 2022.
For International Airlines Group, total revenue was up 45.3% in the first half of 2023 to €13.6 billion; it made a profit of €921 million compared to a loss of €654 million the previous year.
In the first half of this year, IAG Cargo opened the New Premia facility at London Heathrow Airport, an investment exceeding €100 million, which more than doubles IAG Cargo’s capacity to handle premium shipments.
David Shepherd, CEO of IAG Cargo says, “While the operating environment has changed significantly in recent months, and the air cargo industry normalises following the pandemic, our primary efforts in the first half of the year have been dedicated to implementing essential transformation.
“This has included investing in our facilities, operations, and senior leadership team to ensure that we are in a strong position to adapt to the changing market. As well as opening our New Premia operation at Heathrow, we have focused on improving operational processes to make better use of our capacity.”
IAG Cargo is upgrading its network by reintroducing flights from London to Beijing and Shanghai and adding services to Hong Kong and Japan.
Services to North America are almost at pre-pandemic levels and IAG Cargo has added London to Cincinnati to the network.