In May, Brussels Airport cargo traffic continues its strong growth with a 33% increase compared to the same period in 2020.
The strong growth in cargo volumes that we have seen since the start of this year is continuing, mainly due to the high demand for air cargo across Europe.
Cargo volumes are compared to the 2020 figures as the Covid crisis has had only a limited impact on air freight.
Compared to last year, freight volumes on passenger flights increased strongly (+633%) but these volumes are still limited compared to normal times (-50.4% compared to 2019).
The integrator segment experienced a 16% growth compared to May 2020 and the full-freighter segment increased by 22%.
Therefore, the total flown freight volumes saw a growth of 33% compared to May 2020. The trucked volumes experienced an increase of 47% compared to last year.
In the full-freighter segment, there is an overall growth for all existing partners. The new Asia routes contribute to the additional growth.
The activity in the integrator segment structurally remains at a higher level than in previous years thanks to the strong increase in online purchases.
Import and export volumes have increased, especially inbound volumes coming from Asia and North America.
Covid-19 vaccine shipments to and from Brussels Airport also continue, with over 105 million vaccines handled at the airport to this day, making Brussels Airport an important hub in the global distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
At the end of May, a very important step was taken in the further digitisation of cargo processes at Brussels Airport.
12 cargo partners, 4 ground handlers agents, and 8 freight forwarders have agreed to fully digitize the landside pick-up and delivery process from 1 June.
This is possible using the so-called Digital Green Lane, a combination of four applications on BRUcloud, the data sharing platform of Brussels Airport, leveraging the pioneering work in digitizing many processes in recent years.
The total number of flight movements decreased by 67% in May 2021 (7,021 movements) compared to pre-Covid times (21,055 in May 2019).
The number of full-freighter flights remains well above the level of 2020, with a high number of additional flights operated with passenger aircraft used to carry cargo only, without increasing the proportion of night flights.
Several airlines continue to use these passenger aircraft to provide additional cargo capacity, compensating partially for the loss of belly capacity on normal passenger flights.
