Brussels receive 1.6 million passengers in January, cargo transport up by 2.7%

February 10, 2018: Brussels Airport got off to a good start in 2018 by setting a new record of handling 1.6 million passengers in January, which is up by 5.7 percent compared to the same period last year.

Similarly, the cargo transport volume also witnessed a jump by 2.7 percent, compared to the same period last year.

PASSENGERS TRAFFIC

During January 2018, Brussels Airport received 1.6 million passengers, up by 5.7 percent. The number of originating passengers also grew by 3.7 percent, compared to January 2017. Besides, there was a 16 percent rise in the number of transfer of passengers.

Scheduled airlines and long-haul flights from Europe, including Emirates, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Rwandair, Ethiopian Airlines and Hainan Airlines, triggered a strong growth on the passenger traffic.

CARGO AND LOGISTICS

During January 2018, the cargo transport at the airport grew by 2.7percent, compared to January last year. However, there was a sharp dip in the full-freighter traffic, which was 21.2 percent lower than January 2017. The decline was partly due to the departure or run-down of airlines in the backdrop of stricter noise standards in Brussels.

The decline of full-freight transport was compensated by trucked cargo that clocked 31.1 percent growth, compared to January 2017. Similarly, integrator services and the belly cargo segment saw a growth of 5.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, compared to January last year.

Also, there was a 13 percent drop in imports compared to the same month last year, while exports continued to increase with a swing of four percent. The slump in imports was mainly due to a decline in African imports following the departure of several cargo airlines.

FLIGHT MOVEMENT

The number of flight movements saw a drop of 1.5 percent compared to January 2017. However, merely going by the number of passenger flights, the decline was marginally higher at 2.9 percent. Given the increase in the number of passengers and decrease in flights, the average number of passengers per flight increased sharply by 8.7 percent — from 103 passengers per flight in January 2017 to 112 passengers per flight in January 2018.