More than 1.5 million passengers at Brussels Airport in February

In February 2017, Brussels Airport welcomed over 1.5 million passengers, which is a decrease of 0.4% on February 2016, owing to the leap day. Without the leap day effect, the number of passengers would have shown an increase of 3%. Cargo transport at Brussels Airport rose by 7.7% compared with the same month last year, due to the strong growth in the full freighter segment.

In February this year, Brussels Airport handled over 1,564,778 passengers. That is 5,812 fewer than in February last year, when the month had 29 days instead of 28. Discounting last year’s leap day, Brussels Airport welcomed 3% more passengers than in February last year.

The number of originating passengers rose last month by 1.1% compared with February last year, even despite last year’s leap day. This demonstrates that the local market remains strong. The number of arriving passengers dropped by 1.9%. This relates to the fact that the end of the spring break fell in March this year, as opposed to February last year.

The number of transfer passengers was down 2.1% on the same month of last year, owing to the leap day effect and the departure of Jet Airways as of the end of March 2016.

The strongest growth in February was recorded by Brussels Airlines, Ryanair and TUI fly.

Cargo

The positive growth trend of the past few months in cargo transport at Brussels Airport also continued in February 2017. Despite the fact that February 2016 had one day more than February this year, cargo transport rose by 7.7% thanks to the strong growth recorded in the full-freighter and integrator segments.

The growth in volume in the full-freighter segment (+42.4%) was achieved exclusively with daytime flights and with a minimum of extra flights (+6.9%). The express services too have grown (+7.1%) with barely any increase in the number of extra flights.

Belly cargo, cargo transport on board passenger aircraft dropped by 19.3% on February last year. The decrease is partly accounted for by the 2016 leap day effect and partly by the departure of Jet Airways in March 2016.

Flight movements

The number of flight movements at Brussels Airport declined last month by 4.3% in comparison with the same month last year. Here again the leap day effect plays a part. The occupancy rate on the flights rose from 104 passengers per flight to 110 passengers in February 2016. This confirms the rising trend of recent years.