Luxembourg cargo on a three year high

Luxembourg airport ended 2015 on a high note with a total of 738,136 tonnes of freight and post transported by air — up 4.2% compared to 2014 and continuing the trend of the past three years.
October and November saw a growth surge of 9% while August was up 8% and July 7% and, indeed, every month of the year showed an increase compared with the year before.
Total cargo including road freight transported under an airway bill was 747,000 tonnes.
Cargolux remains by far the largest customer of the central European airport. A few days earlier, the Luxembourg-based all-cargo carrier likewise reported the third successive year of growth across its worldwide network with a 7.4% year-on-year jump in 2015.
Cargolux ended a long-running labour dispute late last year and in December began the process of recruiting 100 new pilots based in Luxembourg.
It expanded flights to China with a daily service to Zhengzhou during the year and also added Chennai and Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan to its network. Atlas Air in cooperation with Panalpina is the second largest customer while third largest customer, Qatar Airways, increased flights from three to five per week. China Airlines and Silk Way West Airlines complete the top five.
Luxembourg says it has bucked the general trend in the general airfreight market; according to IATA figures, European airlines reported growth of just 0.2% in October and a decline of 2% in November. Global air freight increased by only 2.3% year-to-date to November 2015, suggesting that Luxembourg Airport grew almost twice as fast as the world average.
The airport attributed its strong showing to its fast handling processes, efficient customs procedures and specialisation in high-value products such as pharma and life sciences, electronics and live animals.
During the year, 2,120 horses (+34%) took to the air in Luxembourg, along with 73,821 day old chicks (+89%), 1,589 dogs (+150%), 643 Alpacas (+315%), 86 hamsters, one hyena and two donkeys – along with 117 racing motorbikes, 25 Formula 3 cars and ten GT Touring cars.
Luxembourg Airport signed a memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) on 6 May to promote the transportation of time- and temperature-sensitive medicinal products for human use, in accordance with the European Union and World Health Organization Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification.