Cargo at Brussels Airport declined in May by 9 % compared to May 2021. The air freight volumes showed a slight decline of 4%. The full freighter segment showed a decline of 11% while cargo on board passenger aircraft rose by 57% due to the increase in the number of passenger flights. The share of cargo flights that were operated with passenger aircraft accounted for 34% of the full freighter flights.
In May, Air Belgium, in partnership with Hongyuan, started cargo flights with their first Boeing 747 and Virgin Atlantic operated the first cargo flights with an Airbus 321, they are making the transition from the deployment of passenger aircraft for cargo to operations with full freighters.
The express services saw a decline of 15% due to the weakening growth of the e-commerce market in Western Europe and the temporary shift of certain flights to other airports. In addition, the trucked volumes decreased by 25%.
This month, Asia is again the largest import and export region. Africa is the second import region and the third export region and noted a growth in both segments compared to last year. North America is the third import region and the second export region.
Up until till now, 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been transported via Brussels Airport since the start of the worldwide vaccine transport in November 2020, which makes Brussels Airport the main European hub for vaccine transport.
