Brussels Airport continues to set records with more than 2.25 million passengers in April

During the month of April 2018, Brussels Airport welcomed more than 2.25 million passengers, an increase of 5% compared with the same month last year. This new record confirms the excellent results recorded since the beginning of the year. Cargo traffic at Brussels Airport also rose sharply (+4.5%), thanks in particular to trucked freight and belly cargo.

Passengers

Last April, Brussels Airport welcomed 2,253,476 passengers, a growth of 5% compared with April 2017. This was a record mainly due to the sharp increase in the number of originating passengers (+5.6%). For its part, the number of transfer passengers stabilised (-0.6%), after the sharp rise last summer.

Air traffic continues to grow with an increase in intra-European traffic from Brussels Airlines and a strong growth in intercontinental flights with the launch of several new long-haul services, mainly from Cathay Pacific (new airline), Emirates (second daily flight), Hainan Airlines (new destinations, Shanghai and Shenzhen), Rwandair (new airline), as well as United Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines offering additional seating capacity.

The leisure flight segment also performed particularly well in April, mainly for TUI fly and Corendon Airlines, despite the fact that the Easter holidays started at the end of March.

Cargo

Freight transport at Brussels Airport rose by 4.5% in April. Flown cargo remains stable (+0.3%) compared to April of last year, while trucked cargo increased very strongly (+19.5%), confirming the excellent figures this segment has been recording for several months.

The full freighter segment continues to show a sharp drop which began 12 months ago due to more stringent noise standards in the Brussels Region (-12.6%). This decrease was partially offset by a strong increase in belly cargo (+17%). Integrator services have meanwhile slightly increased (+0.7%). This overall increase in air freight is mainly due to large exports from Europe, with imports increasing slightly.

Cargo trucked from and to other airport hubs continues the upward trend started a few months ago, with a significant increase of 19.5 per cent compared to April 2017. Growth is mainly in the import sector.

Flight movements

The number of flight movements increased by 1.7% compared to April 2017, making a total of 19,893 movements. The number of passenger flights remained stable at +0.7%, or 17,346 movements, which, combined with the increase in the number of passengers, resulted in an increase in the average number of passengers per flight of 3.2%, 125 in April 2017 to 129 passengers per flight in April 2018.