Traffic continues to break records in May

In May, Brussels Airport handled 1,997,697 passengers. With a total of nearly 2 million passengers, this is the second record-breaking month in a row for Brussels Airport. Such figures had not been seen since the historic record year 2000. Air cargo traffic too is performing well with a 7.4% increase on May 2013.

Arnaud Feist, CEO van Brussels Airport Company: “The strong growth in passenger and cargo traffic of the previous months is again confirmed in May. This illustrates the important synergies that exist between the passenger and cargo segments. Moreover growth is recorded in all passenger segments, in short-haul as well as long-haul, in O&D as well as transfer traffic.”

Passengers

With nearly 2 million passengers handled, May 2014 is the second all-time record-breaking month in a row for Brussels Airport. The historical record of the year 2000 is broken once again. The number of passengers grew by 278,000 passengers, an increase of 16.2% on May 2013.

Growth is recorded in all passenger segments, with originating passengers up 16.4% and transfer passengers up 18.5%. Moreover, both long-haul and intra-European traffic are showing growth. The most noticeable fact is the strong growth of short-stay leisure traffic, the city breaks.

Cargo

Cargo volumes at Brucargo too continue to grow. With 37,752 tonnes handled in May 2014, the cargo volume grew by 7.4% compared to last year. The recovery that began in October 2013 continues. Integrator traffic, e-commerce, the transportation of pharmaceuticals and perishables, in particular, are on the up.

Brucargo handles and consolidates numerous cargo flows in Belgium. Part of the cargo is flown from Brussels Airport and part is trucked to other airports in neighbouring countries from where the cargo is flown to its final destination. Considering these two cargo flows put together as well as the economic value added and the number of jobs provided, Brussels Airport strengthens its position as the major cargo airport in Belgium.

Movements

With 21,361 flights, the number of movements recorded in May 2014 grew by 8.7% on May last year. Passenger flights increased by 9.9%, cargo flights by 4.7%.

Growth in the number of flights is considerably lower than growth in passenger numbers due to the increase of the average number of passengers per passenger flight (+5% compared to May 2013) and an improved average passenger load factor.

An increasing number of airlines use new-generation aircraft. After Qatar Airways and Jetairfly, Ethiopian Airlines is the third carrier at Brussels Airport to use a Boeing 787 (Dreamliner), which produces less noise and emits less carbon dioxide.