Airports

Brussels Airport: Strong growth in air freight and stability in total volumes transported

For the second consecutive month, air freight saw an increase in volumes transported, up 9.9% compared with July 2019. This result is much more positive than the overall trend since, on a global scale, freight volume is continuing to fall largely due to the very steep decrease in belly cargo, i.e. the cargo on board of passenger aircraft, which covers 50% of the volumes transported around the world.

Express services recorded an increase of +25.3%, while full cargo volumes are increasing by +89%. These strong increases compensate for the lack of freight capacity on board of passenger aircraft (-72%). These additional flights are operated by modern full cargo planes, as well as passenger aircraft which are converted for freight transport. These additional operations are mainly carried out during the day, which means that the number of night flights at Brussels Airport is not increasing.

When truck freight is added (which fell by -28.4%), the volume of cargo transported in July at Brussels Airport amounted to 55,729 tonnes, an increase of +0.3% compared to the same period last year.

Flights

The total number of flight movements decreased by -63.7% in July 2020 compared to July 2019, to 8,201 (compared to 22,599 in July 2019). The number of passenger flights decreased by -74.1% due to the coronavirus crisis, while the number of cargo flights increased by +42.7%. The occupancy rate stands at 102 passengers/flight. Occupancy on intercontinental traffic remains low due to travel restrictions.

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