Brussels Airport: third record month in a row and excellent passenger figures in first semester

In June Brussels Airport welcomed 2,083,096 passengers. Never before, the month of June exceeded 2 million departing passengers. Over the first half of the year, Brussels Airport records an 11.8% growth in passenger numbers compared to last year, driven mainly by the increased offer. The number of aircraft movements increased at a slower pace than the number of passengers due to an improved average passenger payload per flight.

Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company: “The excellent figures of the past few months demonstrate that Brussels Airport remains the airport of choice of an increasing number of passengers. The many new destinations and the fact that a growing number of Belgians and passengers from neighbouring countries are in a mood to travel confirm Brussels Airport’s roll as barometer of the national economy.”

Passengers

With over 2 million passengers, June 2014 is the third record month in a row for Brussels Airport. The previous record of the year 2000 is once again broken, despite the industrial actions at Belgocontrol at the start of the holiday rush. Compared to last year, the number of passengers grew by 278,840 passengers, an increase by 15.5%.

Growth is recorded in all passenger segments, both local departing passengers (+13.1%) and transfer passengers (+17.5%).

Cargo

In June, the cargo volume flown through Brussels airport increased by 2.9% totalling to 37.262 tonnes; a growth that is less prominent than in the past few months. Around the world, the transport of cargo carried by full-freighters is still very much under pressure, whereas belly cargo volumes (cargo carried on board of passenger flights) are growing at a solid pace. This is no different at Brussels Airport with belly cargo up by 7.4%.

Integrator traffic too is doing well with an increase of 30.2%. Full-freighter volumes however show a decrease (-25.6%). The fact that different transportation modes are provided at BRUcargo constitutes one of its major assets and is essential for logistics companies to establish themselves firmly at the cargo airport and in Belgium.

Aircraft movements

Growth in aircraft movements (+8.4%) remains far below that of the passenger numbers. This is explained by the remarkable increase in the average number of passengers per passenger flight: 112 in June 2014 compared to 106 in June 2013. It also implies that the airport capacity is used more efficiently through the use of larger aircraft and an improved passenger payload. The average passenger payload increased from 73 to 75.5%.

First semester

For the whole of the first semester, Brussels Airport recorded a growth in passenger numbers of 11.8%. Growth has accelerated since the start of the summer season in April, driven by the opening of numerous new routes, including typical short-haul summer destinations and several long-haul destinations including the route to Washington and the new destination Charlotte (American Airlines) as well as by the additional capacity to African destinations (both Brussels Airlines). The use of larger aircraft by several airlines, including Jet Airways, THAI, Air Canada and United Airlines also contributes to the growth.

The number of low cost passengers has even doubled due to the strong growth Air Arabia Maroc, easyJet and Vueling and newcomer Ryanair (+100.1%).

The leisure segment on the contrary recorded negative growth on pcp. This is primarily due to the unstable political situation in Egypt, which normally is the most popular destination in winter and spring. The new routes of Jetairfly to Miami and Tel Aviv and of Thomas Cook to Split and Ajaccio, combined with the extra capacity on other markets including Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, compensated the drop in passenger traffic to Egypt as from the start of the summer season.

From January until June 2014 included, cargo grew by 6.0% to 223,310 tonnes of cargo carried. The drop in the full-cargo segment (-20.8%) is compensated by the growth in integrator traffic (+31.1%) and belly cargo (+11.5%), yet another positive sign for our economy.