Spanish hubs lead the way for freight growth in Europe

Six out of the 20 fastest growing cargo airports in Europe over the last ten years are based in Spain, according to research from flight case manufacturer CP Cases.

The analysis reveals that the European airports that have seen the largest 10-year growth of freight tonnes processed are Zaragoza airport (843% increase) and Valladolid airport (837% increase) in Spain, and Burgas airport (699% increase) in Bulgaria.

Data also reveals strong growth for freight handling airports in eastern Europe, with six in the top 10 fastest growing, and seven appearing in the top 20 rankings overall.

Romanian airports feature twice in the top five growth airports of the last 10 years – Cluj Napoca/Avram Iancu airport (621% increase) and Timisoara/Traian Vuia airport (497% growth).

Despite the increase of freight tonnes processed over the last 10 years by these European airports, there’s still a large difference between most of these and the major 20 freight hubs who process the largest amount of freight tonnes every year.

Making an impact on the major players however, four European freight airports appear in the top 20 for the 10-year growth and also the top 20 for total tonnes in 2018: Leipzig Halle, Adolfo Suarez MAdrid-Barajas and Bareclona El Prat.

Beauvais-Tille, usually seen as Paris’s third airport, jumps to the top spot in Europe for both year-on-year and five-year increases.

Norway also emerges as a recent hub for growth, with three airports among the top 10 for year-on-year growth to 2018.