Passengers
In May Brussels Airport welcomed 1,971,664 passengers, down 8.4% or about 180,000 passengers on May 2015. These figures are the result of the attacks that occurred at Brussels Airport on 22 March last. However, the airport is recording a systematic increase of the number of passengers as the weeks pass.
The decrease is seen mainly in the segment of originating departing passengers
(-12.8%). The number of transfer passenger grew by a strong 18.1% on May 2015. This proves that international travellers continue to trust Brussels Airport as their transfer airport. The strongest growth was recorded at Brussels Airlines.
The number of transit passengers decreased by 94.7% compared to May last year due to the loss of Jet Airways.
Both Brussels Airlines and the low cost airlines are again recording positive growth at Brussels Airport.
Cargo
Cargo traffic at Brussels Airport has recovered from the 22 March attacks. The total volume carried is back to the level of May last year (-0.3%).
Full-freighter and integrator traffic again record positive growth. Full-freighter traffic grew by 7.9% on May 2015 due to the return and expansion of Ethiopian Cargo at Brussels Airport and to the growing volumes carried by other airlines. Integrator traffic was up 6 %.
Belly cargo, cargo carried on board of passenger flights, was down 16.4% on May 2015. This is explained by the reduced capacity of the airport flight schedule, as well as by the loss of Jet Airways. Early May the capacity for passenger flights was increased from 22 departing flights per hour, to 28 flights per hour.
Movements
The number of flight movements at Brussels Airport decreased by 2.5% compared to May 2015. This decrease is explained by the reduced capacity per hour for outbound passenger flights.