Passenger and cargo traffic at Brussels Airport continue to grow in May

With more than 2.2 million passengers in May 2017, passenger traffic at Brussels Airport set a new May record. Cargo traffic too continued to grow strongly by 8.1% in comparison to May 2015.

Traffic figures for the month of May 2017 are compared to figures from Brussels Airport’s record year 2015. As a result of last year’s attacks, the 2016 figures are not representative, which means that any comparison would present a distorted picture.

Passengers

In the last month, the number of passengers at Brussels Airport has grown by 2.4% on the same month in 2015. In May, some 2,203,443 passengers travelled via Brussels Airport, setting a new May record.

Growth is lower than in previous months due to the extended Pentecost weekend which, this year, fell entirely in the month of June. In 2015, it fell in May. As a result, the number of originating passengers is lower than in May 2015 (-1.1%). The number of transfer passengers continued to rise, by 25.9% in comparison to May 2015.

These growth rates are attributed to the strong performance of Brussels Airlines, on both short and long-haul flights, Ryanair, TUI fly and the growth in the long-haul segment.

Cargo

In May, cargo volumes at Brussels Airport recorded an 8.1% growth compared to May 2015. The full-cargo segment has risen sharply by 17.2% and express services by 16.6% against the same month in 2015. The growth rates confirm the potential and stable growth within these segments.

Belly cargo in May 2017 decreased by 11.4% against May 2015. This was due to the departure of Jet Airways in March 2016 and the subsequent decrease in the number of long-haul flights.

Flight movements

The number of flight movements in May increased by 1.9% against May 2015, in line with the passenger growth of 2.4%. As a result, the occupancy rate has remained stable with an average of 116 passengers per flight.