IAG Cargo saw both revenues and cargo traffic decline in the first quarter of the year as the Middle East conflict, a weaker dollar and a strong comparison period last year affected comparisons.
The cargo business of IAG saw first-quarter revenues decline by 13.5% year on year to €275m, while cargo traffic was down 7.7% on Q1 2025 at 1.2bn cargo tonne kms and yields slipped 6.3% to €22.78cents.
The group pointed out that last year’s first-quarter performance was particularly strong and the market had settled since then.
IAG added that cargo performance from March was affected by the Middle East conflict.
“Market yields were elevated in the first half of 2025, supported by global supply chain disruptions and strong demand; however, since the third quarter of 2025, yields have declined as market rates stabilised from the previous year’s Red Sea-related surge,” the airline group said.
“Cargo revenue was further impacted by a weakened US dollar, while March performance was affected by cancellations to destinations in the Middle East.
“The Group continued to prioritise high-yielding and premium flows, particularly across Asia Pacific and India.”
The performance is in contrast to that of its European rivals Air France KLM and Lufthansa Cargo, which benefited from having access to freighters to capitalise on the grounding of much of the Middle East fleet and closure of airspace in the region.
Lufthansa’s logistics division saw cargo traffic, revenues and operating profits improve in the first quarter of the year in part as a result of capacity tightness caused by the Middle East conflict.
The logistics division, which includes Lufthansa Cargo, time:matters, Jettainer, HeyWorld and a 50% stake in AeroLogic, saw revenues improve by 5% to €876m, earnings before interest and tax (ebit) were up 40% to €83m and cargo traffic improved by 7% to 2.2bn revenue cargo tonne kms.
Meanwhile, Air France KLM saw first-quarter revenues at the cargo business decline by 3.5% year on year to €600m despite cargo volumes increasing by 4% to 234,000 tons and cargo traffic improving by 3.8% to 1.8bn revenue tonne km.
However, much of this was down to its performance in January and February. In March, the group benefited from the situation in the Middle East.
Also, the drop off in performance was less steep than that of IAG.
“Unit revenue per available tonne km at constant currency was below last year’s level in January and February, which showed strong cargo demand due to front-loading of shipments and tariff-driven shifts,” the company said in a first-quarter results press release.
“In March, the Middle East conflict reduced industry capacity and pushed the Group’s yield and unit revenue above last year’s levels.”
