Cargo up 10 per cent in Israel

DESPITE recent US condemnation on its safety record, Israel has seen total air cargo movements escalate 10 per cent in 2010 over the previous year’s figures.

Total air cargo movements through Israel’s airports in 2010 reached 302,903 tons, up 10.41 per cent compared to 274,319 tons the year before.

In December 2010 El Al carried 5,039 tons of cargo in the belly holds of its passenger fleet, an increase of 7.32 per cent compared to the same 2009 period when it carried 4,695 tons and 4,568 tons onboard its freighters, an increase of 10.84 per cent, year-on-year.

Over the 12 months El Al carried 57,651 tons of cargo in the belly holds of its passenger fleet, up 19.61 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier when it carried 48,197 tons.

Despite a good picture overall, other key Israeli carriers saw tonnage tumble. During December Ben-Gurion International Airport handled 26,197 tons of air cargo compared to 28,587 in December 2009, down 0.8 per cent.

Another key Israeli cargo carrier, CAL, carried 4,584 tons on its freighters in December 2010, a fall of 19.12 per cent compared to the 5,668 tons it carried a year earlier.

During January to December 2010 CAL carried 49,016 tons, down 6.68 per cent compared to 52,526 tons in 2009.

In January 2011 the US government ranked Israel’s air safety among the world’s worst, grouping it with countries like Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Zimbabwe.

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