In March, Brussels Airport welcomed 1,742,478 passengers, 9% more than in March 2023.
The suspension of Tel Aviv-bound flights continued to have a negative impact on passenger numbers, though there was a limited resumption of flights in late March.
The strikes at Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa also had a negative impact, as did the announcement of the strike at Brussels Airlines, which could ultimately be averted.
Almost 17% of the departing passengers were transfer passengers, showing an increase in the number of intercontinental passengers.
The top 10 countries in March were Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, the United States, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Morocco and Portugal.
The first quarter of 2024 saw a total of 4.7 million passengers, almost 10% more than in 2023. The share of transfer passengers thereby remained stable with growth in intercontinental travellers and fewer intra-European travellers.
Cargo volumes: down 2% from March 2023
Total cargo volumes through Brussels Airport fell by 2% in March compared to March 2023, reaching almost 65,000 tonnes. Flown cargo volumes also experienced a small decline of almost 2% to a total of 54,000 tonnes.
There was a 5% decrease in the full freighter segment, while belly cargo increased by 20%, in line with increasing capacity in terms of passenger flights. Integrator services are down 9% and trucked volumes are also down 5%.
In the first quarter of the year, cargo volumes registered a slight growth of 1% with flown cargo volumes up 2% on last year.
Flight movements: 3% increase compared to March 2023
There were 15,237 flight movements in March, up 3% from March 2023. The number of passenger flights increased by 7% compared to 2023. In March 2024, there were an average of 140 passengers per flight, two more than last year.
The number of cargo flights fell by almost 10%, mainly due to the decrease in express flights.
More figures are available in our press release.