Brussels Airlines’ cargo business from Europe to Africa is continuing to prove its resilience compared to the downturns in other international markets and, in October, reported the second highest monthly volume of cargo and mail traffic in its history.

Guy Hardy, head of Cargo Sales, praised the performance of Brussels Airlines’ GSA partner, European Cargo Services (ECS) for generating the record 1.05 tonnes of southbound, traffic in October – a 97 per cent load factor. Brussels Airlines previous highest monthly volume – 1.08 tonnes – was achieved in October 2008.

ECS markets belly hold cargo capacity on Brussels Airlines’ Airbus A330-300 flights to 14 destinations across Africa; Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Burundi, Guinea, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Angola, Kenya and Liberia. In October, the airline completed 103 flights from Brussels into the African market with an average load per flight of 10,169 kilos.

“The first half of 2010 will continue to be difficult but forecasts for the second half of the year look more promising for both trade and travel. As soon as we see signs of a sustained recovery we will be looking to bring additional capacity into our African network by either opening new destinations or increasing frequencies on existing routes,” said Hardy.