Lufthansa Cargo carried a total of 1.6 million tonnes of freight and mail in 2015, representing an approximate 2% decrease compared to 2014.

“Last year was not an easy one for the air freight industry,” said Peter Gerber, CEO and executive-board chairman of Lufthansa Cargo. “Turbulence in the Chinese market and the strong US dollar, that affected a lot of industries, stretched us all to our limits. Strikes called by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union and the cabin-crew union UFO also weighed heavily on us at Lufthansa Cargo.”

Although Lufthansa Cargo offered an additional capacity of 2%, the overall load factor for the year was 66.3%, a drop of 3.4 percentage points, according to the carrier.

Gerber added that two MD-11Fs would be retired from the Lufthansa fleet to improve capacity utilization, leaving the carrier with a freighter fleet of five Boeing 777Fs and 12 MD-11Fs.