Cargo volumes at Brussels Airport have grown 2.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 with rising bellyhold volumes making up for the fall in freighter traffic.

The hub serving Belgium’s capital city handled 177,051 tonnes of cargo between January and March 2018, up from the 173,067 tonnes handled in the same period of 2017.

Flown cargo fell by 2.1 per cent to 133,243 tonnes with freighter traffic declining 14.3 per cent to 41,207 tonnes due to the departure or reduced frequencies of freight aircraft due to tightening noise standards affecting Brussels from the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Integrator traffic was also down 0.6 per cent to 54,594 tonnes though bellyhold cargo increased by 13 per cent to 37,442 tonnes helped by new and additional long haul flights from airlines including Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Hainan Airlines.

Trucked cargo saw a noticeable increase of 18.6 per cent to 43,808 tonnes.

In March total volumes were up 3.2 per cent to 66,938 tonnes but experienced the same trends of falling freighter and integrator traffic while bellyhold and trucked traffic increased.

Total flown volumes were up 0.3 per cent with freighter traffic down 3.9 per cent to 16,272 tonnes, integrator by 5.9 per cent to 19,645 tonnes and belly cargo up by 16 per cent.

Trucked cargo volumes were up 13.5 per cent in March to 16,329 tonnes helped by incoming traffic with imports increasing 30 per cent.