Lufthansa Cargo is upbeat about the company's performance this year, after its airfreight and mail business grew by 1.3 per cent in the 2006 to 1.76 million tonnes.

The cargo load factor last year climbed 2.7 percentage points to 67.7 per cent.

The return to growth in 2006 came after Lufthansa Cargo reduced capacity on the year-earlier level by 0.6 per cent to 11.97 billion available tonne-kilometres. Consequently, revenue freight-kilometres rose by 3.5 per cent to 8.10 billion, a company statement said.

"Our stake in the Chinese carrier Jade Cargo International is spawning excellent growth opportunities. We are expecting the airfreight industry generally to continue growing in 2007 and Lufthansa Cargo to profit strongly," said Carsten Spohr, the CEO and chairman of Lufthansa Cargo.