Brussels Airlines Cargo’s March figures were strongly impacted by the shocking terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport on 22 March.

The carrier says cargo activity was obviously “heavily influenced” by the attacks and until 21 March, the cargo load factor had amounted to 69 percentage points.

The cargo traffic was largely interrupted after 22 March. A total of 2,609 tonnes of cargo was transported in March, which is a decline of around 21 per cent compared to March 2015.

In March, the carrier’s freight tonne kilometres reached 10,593 million, which was a 37.7 per cent fall in the same month last year.

Brussels Airlines chief commercial officer, Lars Redeligx says: “As expected, our March figures are very heavily impacted by the events of 22 March, which took away our main work tool, our home base Brussels Airport, for 12 days.

“Thanks to the dedication of all Brussels Airlines colleagues, the support of many partners and the flexibility of our guests, however, we were able to partially recover our operations from alternative airports, which was a very complicated logistical task.

“Between 24 March and 3 April, it enabled us to operate 1,010 flights or 38 per cent of our normal flight schedule. Our main focus now is getting our operations back to 100 per cent and to offer our guests a comfortable and smooth travel experience again.”