This corresponds to a margin of 28% (previous year: 0%). A total of 6.5 billion freight tonne-kilometers (-27%) were sold last year. The average load factor improved by 7.8 percentage points to 69.1%, while the available capacity shrank by 36%.

"We are delighted to be able to close what was probably the most challenging year in our company's history with a record result. It is also a record in terms of the commitment and flexibility of our workforce - and we are proud of the outstanding cooperation with our long-standing partners and customers. This success enables us to make crucial investments in our future. We want to make airfreight better in the long term and further strengthen our home base in Frankfurt. That is why we will gradually modernize our airfreight center in the coming years and continue to drive digitalization along the entire transport chain," said Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo (pictured).

"We will be adding another highly efficient Boeing 777F aircraft to our freighter fleet before the end of this year. This will also secure jobs in the cockpit and in other areas," announced von Boxberg. In addition to the belly capacities of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and SunExpress, the cargo airline will thus provide its customers with the capacity of fourteen modern wide-body freighters in future. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive and be stationed in Frankfurt by fall 2021. The twin-engine Boeing 777F is considered the most efficient freighter in its class.

"Now that we are optimally positioned with one of the world's most modern freighter fleets, we will work with our customers to promote the regular use of sustainable fuels," says von Boxberg. In November 2020, Lufthansa Cargo was the first cargo airline in the world to carry out a fully sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) compensated rotation.

Lufthansa Cargo had initially started the financial year with cautious expectations. The cargo airline had already launched a structural cost-cutting program in the previous year due to a noticeable slowdown in the airfreight market, which also contributed to the current result.

In an extremely challenging environment for the entire aviation industry, the Lufthansa Group's logistics subsidiary managed to maintain its global connections with cargo aircraft without interruption. The cargo airline countered the pandemic-related, constant changes to entry regulations for crews, for example, with extremely flexible network planning. In order to at least partially compensate for the additional cargo capacity that was largely lost in passenger traffic, Lufthansa Cargo, together with the Group airlines Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, provided its customers with hundreds of flights with passenger aircraft solely for freight transport (so-called "prachters").