Freight growth uptick in Europe

Freight traffic growth at European airports picked up in January, improving by 8.4% year on year according to ACI Europe.
Airports in EU countries achieved growth of 6.4% for the month while non-EU airports fared significantly better, their cargo traffic increasing by 19.3% compared to January 2017.
As listed by the ACI report, Europe’s top cargo airport by volume, Frankfurt, processed 158,009 tonnes of freight during the month (down by 0.4% year on year). Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s throughput fell by 1.4% to 133,215 tonnes – but London Heathrow’s tonnage was up by 6.9% at 133,029 tonnes.
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, another of the region’s busiest cargo airports, has not yet revealed its figures for January.
Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, said: “If you put aside the persisting negative impact of last year’s airlines bankruptcies, 2018 is off to a good start for air traffic at Europe’s airports. The main driver for that is continued and robust economic expansion across our continent and beyond.
“While oil price volatility is more of concern in the medium-term, geopolitical tensions remain at the very top of our risk cards for the coming months.”