Brussels Airport has revealed that in February, the volume of freight at the airport grew by 13% compared with February 2019, before the pandemic.

The airport says full cargo (+67%) and express service (+39%) segments remain the growth drivers, while passenger volumes remain understandably below 2019 volumes (-24%).

Compared with 2021, the full cargo segment recorded a slight decrease in volumes (-5%) due to temporary capacity constraints faced by some carriers. The downturn in freight caused by the Chinese New Year influenced freight volumes at the beginning of the month, in line with historical trends.

Express service volumes finished the month down (-15%) due to a reduction in DHL Express flights at Brussels Airport since the beginning of the year.

Asia remains the largest export region, but is only the third largest in terms of imports due to the effect of the Chinese New Year. As a result, Africa was the largest import region in February, followed by North America.

The number of passenger flights increased by 232% compared with 2021 but remains at 48% of the number of passenger flights in February 2019, before the crisis.

In February, the number of cargo flights fell by 8% compared with 2021. Cargo flights on passenger aircraft, ‘preighters’, accounted for 38% of full cargo flights, which the airport says is consistent with last month.