Liege Airport continues its annual tonnage growth path

January 11, 2017

Liege Airport handled 660,604 tonnes of freight in 2016 compared with the 649,829 tonnes it processed in 2015, which was a rise of 1.7 per cent.

The Belgian gateway is the 8th busiest tonnage wise in the Europe region and Belgium’s largest airfreight hub.

Liege Airport managing director, Luc Partoune says: “There has been sustained business growth for all our companies with significant increases for CAL, El Al and Qatar Airways. In a transition phase following the buyout by FedEx, TNT continues to perform well and remains our most important client.”

Despite more cargo, and more passengers there were fewer aircraft movements at Liege Airport, which were down from 41,045 in 2015 to 37,987 in 2016.

The gateway is also building a new cargo hall in the north zone and pursuing its diversification strategy via its subsidiary Liege Airport Business Park. Occupancy of office space is running at more than 93 per cent.

A new 6,000 square metre cargo hall will be built in 2017 with a four million Euro investment and the airport says this demonstrates demand for freight is strong, while year-on-year, it adds it is consolidating its role as a major economic player serving an entire region.

James Graham

James Graham is an award-winning transport media journalist with a long background in the commercial freight sector, including commercial aviation and the aviation supply chain. He was the initial Air Cargo Week journalist and retuned later for a stint as editor. He continues his association as editor of the monthly supplements. He has reported for the newspaper from global locations as well as the UK.