Liege cargo volumes slide in 2023 as FedEx switch takes its toll
10 / 01 / 2024
Liege Airport
Liege Airport saw its cargo volumes decline last year due to weak economic conditions and the restructuring of FedEx’s network.
Belgium’s busiest cargo hub recorded cargo volumes of just over 1m tonnes last year, down 11.8% on 2022 levels. However, volumes are up on 2019’s 902,480 tonnes.
The airport attributed the decline to a normalisation of the market following a Covid boost in 2021, weak economic conditions and the full impact of FedEx’s network changes.
In 2022, FedEx restructured its European air network following the takeover of TNT, which used Liege as its European hub.
The changes meant that flights were switched from Liege to FedEx’s main European hub at Paris CDG.
Aircraft movements were also down last year, falling by 10.7% to 33,548 movements.
Liege Airport chief executive Laurent Jossart said: “FedEx’s restructuring came into full effect in 2023 on top of a difficult international economic context (war in Ukraine, downturn in the Chinese market, less consumer spend in Europe).
“All European cargo airports are experiencing a backlash. Even if the reference year is already a long way off, it’s worth noting that we are gaining 11.5% in tonnage in 2023 compared with 2019 (pre-covid year), while having digested the FedEx restructuring (from April 2022) and the departure of AirBridge Cargo following the outbreak of war in Ukraine (from February 2022).
“This sets us apart from most European airports, which are behind on their 2019 cargo figures.”
Looking ahead, the airport has a €500m master plan “Vision 2040”, which aims to double the capacity of first-line cargo handling space in the next 10 years.
In phase one, a development of nearly 40,000 sq m will be created as well as 15 additional widebody parking stands will be added and the existing runway system will be upgraded.
“More than €500m will be invested over the next 20 years, with the aim of becoming a multimodal hub, exemplary in environmental terms and a creator of jobs for our region,” said Jossart.
In other developments last year, the Walloon Government set a 55,000 movements per year limit for the airport.
The airport also saw its number of night flights reduce to 33.3% of its total flights from 41.9% in 2022.
