Brussels airport continues to see cargo demand improve
21 / 10 / 2016
Cargo demand at Brussels airport continued to improve in September after the airport’s difficult start to the year.
The latest airport figures show an 8.5% year on year improvement in cargo tonnage through the airport in September to 42,906 tonnes.
The largest increase in demand during the month came from full-freighter traffic, which increased by 31.2% on last year to 14,657 tonnes. Integrator traffic was up by 2.5% year on year to 17,534 tonnes, but belly cargo demand was down by 4.8% to 10,715 tonnes.
“The full-cargo segment saw growth with Singapore Airlines, Qatar Cargo and Ethiopian Cargo. These last two cargo carriers started operating extra flights this month,” the airport said.
“The express services segment rose by 2.8% compared to September last year thanks to the growth in e-commerce.”
The drop in belly cargo is down to “a decrease in the number of long-distance flights compared to September last year [caused] by the departure of Jet Airways”.
August was the first month of the year that the airport saw cargo demand increase following on from the March terror attacks at the passenger terminal.
And in June, KF Aerospace, which started a three-times-a-week service to Brussels in late 2015, ceased operations at the airport because of weak demand.
