Cargo at Brussels Airport is recovering after the 22 March terrorist attacks, but volumes still took a hit from the deadly attacks.

The gateway says it volumes in March and April were impacted and freighter traffic was resumed on 24 March, but because of the suspension of the passenger operations until 3 April, no cargo could be carried on bellyhold flights.

In April, the airport handled 39,129 tonnes, a 4.8 per cent fall on the 41,105 tonnes in April last year, while in March cargo traffic recorded a 20.9 per cent drop on the same month last year.

The full freighter segment and the integrator services quickly recovered and were again showing positive growth in April – up 19.1 per cent and up 2.7 per cent in the integrator segment compared to last year.

The airport says the 39.2 per cent drop in bellyhold cargo in April can entirely be attributed to the limited number of long-haul flights in the months of March and April.

In the course of April, flights to most destinations were resumed and Brussels Airport saw the bellyhold cargo volume increase week by week.

The decrease in all three segments is attributed to the impact of the attacks of 22 March and after four months Brussels has handled 148,491 tonnes, down on the 161,221 tonnes for the same period in 2015, a 7.9 per cent fall with bellyhold traffic down 16.6 per cent.