For the second consecutive month, in July, Brussels Airport saw an increase of 9.9% in cargo volumes transported.
The airport recorded an increase of 25.3% in express services while full cargo volumes witnessed an increase of 89%. These robust increases compensated for the lack of freight capacity (-72%) on board of passenger aircraft. These additional flights are operated by modern full-freighters as well as cargo-only passenger aircrafts. 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.
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.
However, the total number of flight movements at Brussels Airport in July 2020 was 8,201 (-63.7%) as compared to 22,599 in July 2019. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the number of passenger flights decreased by 74.1% 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.
