Brussels Airport records the best quarter in its history with 7.5 million passengers
Last quarter, Brussels Airport welcomed no fewer than 7.5 million passengers. This is the best quarter ever in the history of the airport and exceeds the previous record for the same quarter of 2015 by 3.1%. In September, the airport handled 2.4 million passengers, up 6.1% year-on-year. Cargo traffic in September declined slightly by 1.1% on the same month last year.
Passengers
The airport handled 2.4 million passengers in September this year, up 6.1% compared with the same month last year. The number of transfer passengers was the same as for the previous month, while the number of originating departing passengers grew by 6.8%. These figures can be explained in part by the growth in leisure flights in recent months. As in August, destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia have clearly gained in popularity again. The growth figures are also driven by Brussels Airlines’ long-haul flight to Bombay and the return of the Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta. That flight even saw double-digit growth this month.There was no growth for low-cost companies in the past month. As in August, the downturn at easyJet and Vueling was offset by WOW Air and Ryanair.
Cargo
Cargo traffic declined by 1.1% in September compared to last year, while the international market has grown by an average of 10% in recent months (source: IATA). Brussels Airport is lagging behind on the current international trend, especially in the full-freight segment which, last month, declined by almost 17% on September 2016. This decrease is largely due to the departure of certain airlines following the introduction of stricter noise regulations in Brussels. In the coming months, this decrease will be partly offset as a number of cargo flights are about to be moved from Schiphol to Brussels Airport. The Amsterdam airport has reached the maximum number of movements allowed which is why Singapore Airlines Cargo has chosen to move four of its eight weekly flights from Amsterdam to Brussels Airport.As in previous months, belly cargo carried on board of passenger aircraft (+9%) and integrator traffic (+6%) again recorded strong growth last month.
Air movements
The number of passenger flights in September remained unchanged compared to the same month last year, but the average number of passengers per flight rose sharply from 120 to 127.
