Liege Airport: 2015 was a good year

The year 2015 was exceptional in the air cargo for Liege Airport. 650,000 tons transited through Liege Airport, an increase of 10%. The passenger business is stable. Investments of € 16 million will support the development in 2016.

In 2015, Liege Airport has consolidated its position as the first cargo airport in Belgium with 649,829 tonnes of cargo against 590,579 tons in 2014, representing an increase of 10%. The new companies – Qatar Airways, ANA Aviation – have boosted our business,” says Luc Partoune, Managing Director of Liege Airport. And TNT has also experienced strong growth. CAL, El Al and Icelandair are also in progress.

The number of passengers remained stable with 299,292 passengers against 302,813 passengers in 2014 (-1.16%). This is a year marked by a strong decrease in Thomas Cook activities, the cessation of flights to Tunisia and Egypt following the attacks, the departure of BMI and VLM that have not >made a long time with us.” However, the passenger business has been consolidated by the massive influx of Chinese tourists, “We are the first European airport to meet this challenge, namely attracting and retaining the first round Chinese operator in Europe U-Tour.

The number of aircraft movements, meanwhile, fell by 2.61% from 42,140 movements in 2014 to 41,039 this year.

Remember also that the year 2015 was marked by major international recognition: Liege Airport was awarded “Best cargo airport in Europe” in October in Singapore. And Ethiopian Airlines, the second airport customer, has obtained the title of best cargo airline in the world for 2015.

At the real estate level, Liege Airport is also successfully continuing its strategy of diversification through its subsidiary Liege Airport Business Park. A new ultra-modern office building has been approved in North zone and will be fully occupied in early February.

2016 Outlook

Liege Airport’s outlook for 2016 passenger traffic is encouraging, with a doubling of the links between China and Liège (March-June: from 3 to 6 flights a week).

The Liege Airport investment programme for 2016 amounts to EUR 10 million and provides in particular for the construction of a new business aviation area, creating spaces for planes in the north, further investment in energy savings with the transition to trigeneration, etc. Investments of Liege Airport Business Park meanwhile will amount to 6 million: new cargo hall in the northern zone, storage slab, etc.

The building dedicated to horses will be operational early June and will be used to send the best horses in the world at Rio Olympics Games.