IAG Cargo saw is revenues rise in the first half of this year, despite volumes being down on a year earlier.

Revenues for the first six months increased 10.5% year on year to €615m, while volumes dipped 33% to 232 tonnes “due to the reduction in passenger schedules”.

“Yields were significantly higher, as the additional flights carried no passengers and had no associated passenger revenue and hence the cost of operating such flights had to be met entirely from cargo revenue,” the company said.

IAG Cargo noted that this year, the second quarter was “dominated” by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Q2 2020, the carrier reported a 31% year-on-year increase in revenues to €369m, as well as a steep 225% rise in yields due to the “extra costs of cargo-only flying and dedicated charters and a significantly changed flying programme.”

Meanwhile, from March to June, volumes decreased 51% year on year to 84,000 tonnes.

Lynne Embleton, chief executive at IAG Cargo, said the company responded quickly and with versatility in order to navigate the crisis: “In short, we have met the challenge of Covid-19 head on,” she said.

“We rapidly developed one of the most comprehensive networks of scheduled cargo-only flights available; a network of over 340 scheduled flights per week built around our customers’ needs and tailored to the most important cargo flows.

“We have reconfigured aircraft to maximise cargo capacity, removing seats and using overhead lockers. These were important capacity solutions, albeit ones that brought additional operational complexity and cost.”

“In addition to our scheduled cargo-only services, our newly established charter team has worked closely with commercial entities and governments to develop bespoke capacity solutions.”

Embleton added: “During this second quarter we operated 615 charters, including 416 critical supply operations for the British, Irish and Spanish authorities. To date we have helped governments and private customers transport over 11,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies on these charters. We also saw additional PPE tonnage transported across our scheduled flights”.

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