Lufthansa Cargo signalled its optimism for the year ahead even as it noted that the global logistics market continues to experience turbulent times.
In a release indicating its outlook on airfreight trends for 2023, the German cargo airline said after three years in "crisis mode," a normalizing market is in sight.
"Lufthansa Cargo is optimistic about the year 2023 and is positive about fundamental trends such as digitalization and sustainability, as well as the associated challenges in airfreight," it said in a statement.
Increasing capacities likely
Lufthansa Cargo noted that the peak phases of the Covid pandemic demonstrated the importance of air freight in logistics as an "indispensable component of global supply chains", — and the temporary shutdown of many passenger aircraft fleets led to a considerable loss of cargo space, making the past crisis years all the more challenging for the industry as around half of the world's air freight tonnage is carried as supplementary cargo.
"Although there will continue to be strained supply chains, partly due to global dynamics, Lufthansa Cargo nevertheless expects increasing freight capacities to help ease the situation in the coming year," the cargo carrier said.
It added that, above all, the continuous increase in passenger flights and the outlook for a reopening Asian market also "allow us to look to the future with confidence."
"Recent years have shown that global trade is resilient and there continue to be growth markets. Air freight has always been dynamic and volatile. Flexibility is and will continue to be in demand in the future," said Dorothea von Boxberg, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.
Digitization and AI as a competitive factor
Lufthansa noted that across all industries, the pandemic years have also led to digitalization being driven forward strongly in many areas.
And according to the cargo carrier, this will continue in the airfreight sector and at an accelerated pace — and networking through the intelligent use of data. The increasing automation of processes will become a performance and competitive factor for the industry.
"Even before the pandemic, topics like digitalization and AI were important. In air freight, there are still many opportunities to use data to add value and interact with partners in real time," von Boxberg added.
She noted as an example is the nationwide research project 'Digitales Testfeld Air Cargo' of the German Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI), which is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML).
"We are pleased to be working as a project partner to help position Germany as an air cargo location for international competition in the future," the Lufthansa Cargo chief added.
Sustainability still a major issue
The German cargo airline further said that the future of air freight logistics would continue to be driven "to a large extent by the issue of sustainability."
von Boxberg said today the industry is already making a diverse contribution to climate protection.
In addition to CO2 neutrality on the ground, for example, through electrification or solar installations, Lufthansa Cargo believes that it will be indispensable to further advance the sustainability of the aircraft as a means of transport, for example, through fleet modernization.
However, it is also important that regulations on quotas of sustainable fuels (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) are designed to ensure fair, competitive conditions.
"For us, sustainability is a very special priority. We have set ourselves the ambitious goal of halving our CO2 emissions per kilogram when flying by 2030.
Efficient flying and expanding the use of sustainable fuels are the focus," von Boxberg added.
"But to really make a difference, we need to think holistically about the issue and also take smaller measures such as loading equipment optimization and recycling seriously. We are convinced - every contribution counts."
