Brussels Airport handles 731,613 tonnes of cargo volume in 2018

Jan 18, 2019: Brussels Airport saw 2018 cargo volumes increase by 5.8 percent year-on-year, according to its latest traffic figures. The airport handled 731,613 tonnes of cargo volume last year, which is the highest freight volume in 10 years.

The European hub saw the highest increase in trucked cargo, which went up by 20.9 percent. Belly cargo enjoyed a very substantial 14.1 percent rise, due to the new destinations. Full cargo volumes and express service volumes recorded a loss of 5 and 1.7 percent respectively.

The airport in its official release highlights 32 percent year-on-year rise in the export volumes of pharmaceutical products in 2018.

Coming to December figures, the airline adds that the cargo volume reached 62,137 tonnes, an increase of 2.1 percent year-on-year. However, this growth remains well below that for the entire year (5.8 percent). To a degree, this weaker growth is explained by the nationwide strike of mid-December, when many cargo flights were cancelled by the airlines as a precaution.

The cargo carried on passenger planes witnessed a slight turn-up of 2.8 percent, whereas full cargo and express services saw a downturn, in the same way as applies to 2018 as a whole. The slight fall of the express services was mainly due to the rise in e-commerce volume.

Trucked cargo saw a very substantial increase (33.8 percent) in that it met rising demand and offset the reticence of the airlines to operate out of Brussels Airport on account of the stricter noise restrictions imposed by the Brussels Region.