Horses, rhinos come to air cargo's aid in recession

FRANKFURT (REUTERS) - Milano de Flore, waiting dozily at Frankfurt airport for a flight to Buenos Aires after competing in the London Olympics, had no idea how important he is to the air freight business.

That is because he is a horse - one of the many millions of live animals whose transport by air has helped operators cushion the ups and downs of the air cargo sector in the past few years with lucrative specialty freight business.

"It's stayed relatively constant throughout the crisis.

There's hardly any volatility like with usual freight. People just love animals," Mr Axel Heitmann, head of Lufthansa Cargo's Animal Lounge in Frankfurt, told Reuters.