For Brussels Airport (BRU), DHL’s decision in October of 2004 to relocate its hub from Brussels to Leipzig, Germany was a significant development, but ultimately one that could not be avoided.

The airport, one of the largest in Europe, handling over 530,000 tonnes of cargo last year, is in close proximity to the greater Brussels’ population of nearly 1.8 million meant the express and logistic company’s proposed expansion plans for extra night time activity could not be accommodated.

“The partial move of DHL has led to more night slots available for other general cargo freighter and passenger carriers,” Didier Duponselle, Brussels Airport cargo manager, says, emphasising that no other airlines are pulling out of BRU. “On the contrary, one new carrier is performing test flights to start up its operation at BRU and another new Asian player has the intention to fly to BRU from October. Most current players are growing or have the intention to grow their business at Brussels Airport.”

With the global economic crisis and DHL’s relocation of a significant part ofits business, BRU’s ranking has dropped to 9th position, allowing fast growingintegrator hubs such as Leipzig andCologne to overtake its ranking. Leavingaside the integrator airports, BRU is stillnumber six in Europe, after Frankfurt,Charles De Gaulle, Amsterdam, Londonand Luxembourg.

As BRU is located within one of the most densely populated areas in Western Europe, the interest of residents living around the airport had to be taken into account and resulted in night restrictions and differential landing charges being implemented from 2006. On 25 October 2009 the night restrictions became even more stringent, keeping BRU one of the strictest airports in Europe with regard to noise control.

During night hours (between 11pm and 6am) no operations are allowed for aircraft with a noise ‘quota count’ over 8, practically banning all B747-200 and DC10 aircraft. Also departures of B747- 400 and MD11 are not allowed, though in most cases arrivals are still possible.

A transition period was agreed for a certain number of aircraft operations of existing carriers. Further restrictions apply between 9pm-11pm and 6am- 7am, though less stringent than during the night. Finally, also silent weekends were introduced, by banning all night departures on Fridays from 1am and Saturday/Sunday from midnight.

Duponselle emphasises that Brussels Airport can operate 16,000 night flights annually, not all of which are used yet. “This leaves significant opportunities for the latest generation of cargo aircraft such as the B747-8F, B777F and A330F,” he added.

Silent weekend nights
Since October 2009 the airport has introduced silent weekend nights, meaning that the coordinator at Brussels Airport may no longer allocate slots for takeoffs during the night from Friday to Saturday between 1 am and 6 pm and Sunday nights between midnight and 6 pm.

According to Duponselle, after DHL’s move, its other clients were able to continue with their night flights or with the night flexibility they required. Even DHL, which could not accommodate its European hub at BRU, continues to operate its regional hub from BRU with the necessary night flights. DHL has its regional distribution centre at Brussels which accounts for 20 per cent of the year-to-date cargo activity.

He says that it is clear that with these night flight restrictions, BRU could no longer attract old and noisy aircraft such as the 747-200, but nevertheless, it still welcomes the B747-400, MD11, A300, A310 or even the IL-76.

“So, BRU is certainly not the most restrictive airport, since we are not closed at night. Airlines can still fly into BRU (at night) with the right aircraft,” he comments.

Asked how much revenue BRU had lost by introducing this night flight policy to reduce noise pollution, Duponselle remarks that the consequential financial losses were limited as the airport’s charges are modest.

Economic recovery
Turning to Brussels Airport’s business since the global economic crisis,Duponselle says the airport has seen a period of recovery from March thisyear. “In June, cargo grew year-on- yearby 5.4 per cent, in line with the year-todategrowth of 5 per cent. In absolutetonnage terms, about 240,000 tonnes offlown cargo passed through the airportover the same period,” he says.

In addition, the airport has recorded an increase in cargo transported by trucks compared with the volumes handled in 2009. Import and export via Brussels are also fairly balanced overall. In 2009, 280,000 tonnes of cargo were inbound and 250,000 tonnes outbound.

“The Asian share of traffic via Brussels Airport was 28 per cent in 2009. The traffic to and from Asia is, although less balanced with 50,000 tonnes inbound and about 75,000 tonnes outbound, is quite remarkable since the general trend in Western Europe is the opposite,” Duponselle says.

“This clearly marks the large export market towards Asia from the Belgian catchment area, and the main commodities are largely the ‘usual suspects’, namely, spare parts, pharmaceuticals, perishables and general cargo.”

Cargo at BRU is growing thanks to the global economy. Many airline clients such as Saudi Airlines Cargo, Eva Airways and Royal Air Maroc have again increased their capacity to benefit from an improving economy. Also, cargo charter traffic has seen increased activity, but the airport declined to provide any figures.

Duponselle says that the main clients next to DHL are Saudi Airlines Cargo and Singapore Airlines which uses Brussels as its European cargo hub. “They tend to have a balanced import and export profile, but this is different for every carrier,” he adds.

Volcanic ash impact
Asked about the impact of the Ireland volcanic ash cloud on BRU, Duponselle says like most Western European airports, Brussels too has lost some freight activity, and some destruction of perishable goods due to the delay in getting to the final destination. “May showed a modest dip in traffic,” he says.

“Brussels Airport will, if needed, assist the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority, which will participate with European institutions to improve the current processes taking into account the lessons learned. The airport will be involved,” he insists.

The EU will also propose new global rules for airlines and air-traffic controllers to deal with volcanic eruptions. The proposal will be presented in September to a general meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). ICAO’s current rules, developed after eruptions in the 1980s, tell carriers to completely avoid clouds of volcanic dust or ash and this is largely why European governments completely closed their airspace.

Asian market growth
Asia is by far the strongest growth market for BRU. “As an airport, we do not have the actual end destination of the cargo shipped nor the exact nature of the goods transported. Also, most airlines today transport perishables, but in different quantities,” Duponselle says, adding that Brussels has four perishables centres offering a nice range of alternatives for customers, including those from Asia, the main air freight trade region.

“Most important today is to keep in contact with all Asian players and to keep them informed about the opportunities Brussels has for them. At this moment, Brussels is, for example, not directly connected with China, Japan or Thailand – three countries with a large traffic potential,” he says.

Summer schedule
Brussels will offer direct passenger flights to 196 scheduled and charter destinations, operated by 80 airlines in its summer schedule.

Asked what would be the total cargo capacity offered by these airlines, Duponselle says it was difficult to tell since passenger airlines easily swap their aircraft mix, which is again dependent on the loads. “But in the past six months, passenger airlines transported about 60,000 tonnes already and this is growing with double digits thanks to the continuing expansion of the long haul network,” he says, adding that new routes support this trend.

Commenting on the most recent services from BRU, Duponselle points out that United Airlines has launched a daily direct to Chicago, Air Canada launched a daily Montreal service while Hainan launched a thrice weekly service to Shanghai. Brussels Airlines launched services to several Western African destinations.

Qatar Airways has announced the start of a new five times weekly passenger service from January 2011 using A330 aircraft and Jet Airways, although not increasing its frequencies is experiencing very high load factors with its six times daily passenger flights with A330 aircraft – flying Brussels, New York JFK, Newark, Toronto, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai. This makes Jet the largest long haul operator at BRU and reflects the tremendous growth at the airport.”The share of belly hold cargo is about 25 per cent,” Duponselle says.

Today, BRU serves about 16 scheduled freighter airlines. Many Asian freighter airlines, including Korean Air, Asiana, Cathay, Eva Airways and Singapore Airlines operate at BRU. In addition, integrator traffic remains important at the airport. Overall Brussels has a nice balance between belly hold cargo transported in passenger airlines, full freighter airlines, along with DHL and partners.

Brussels’ advantages
Brussels’ advantages compared to primary hubs are the fact that it is competitive to operate and there is no competing with large home cargo carrier present. While every airport has its advantages, at the end of the day, it is still dependent on the cargo carrier’s business model which involves issues including cost control, where the end customers is located, whether it is necessary to interline and type of fleet operated.

Duponselle points out that from time to time, BRU’s key advantages had to be conveyed to all its customers so that they were well informed of the benefits they could get from calling at the airport.

“Our airport charges are topped at a MTOW of 175 tonnes, which makes it very interesting to operate MD11 or 747 operations. The fact there is no home cargo carrier has historically led to very liberal traffic rights which are a clear advantage for Brussels Airport over surrounding airports,” he adds.

Other advantages over regional airports are the interlining possibilities with over 80 passenger airlines (whose number is fast expanding) as well as the presence of over 100 forwarding companies at the airport and the proximity to the Belgian import and export market. “We have clients that swapped a regional airport for Brussels and swiftly attracted enough cargo allowing them to make a profit just after one month of operation. As for the total cost of call (including fuel, trucking etc.), Brussels is also very competitive compared to other regional airports,” Duponselle says.

BRU has three runways which allow the airport to combine both a maximum level of safety with the needed capacity. “Slots can be easily requested for all moments of the day, so BRU is not slots congested, except in the morning between 8 and 10 during which an airline may have to shift its schedule 5 to 10 minutes,” Duponselle says.

BRU provides nine dedicated cargo stands to handle 747s and also is 748 (747-8F) compliant. The existing number of stands at BRU is satisfactory, and it still has available capacity. And there are development plans for enlarging this dedicated cargo zone if necessary. In exceptional cases, the apron space at the passenger side can also be used as well, which is the same location where DHL operates its regional distribution hub.

Asked what BRU’s advice was for other airports with regards to environmental issues, Duponselle says: “Environmental issues play an important role in the way we reorganise. Flexibility is crucial to help us achieve that challenge.”

Cargo master plan
With regards to BRU’s Cargo Master Plan, Duponselle says the plan, which is updated every two years, includes up to 20 multiple projects that are listed and prioritised. Today, the cargo zone can handle about one million tonnes of freight (including trucked cargo).

Under its overall plan, Brucargo West is to get three new buildings for logistics, and buildings 4 and 5 for handling cargo.

In 2009 BRU handled about 700,000 tonnes (including trucking), so space is still available. Brucargo West is a new expansion zone that will offer first line and second line warehouse space. This will give BRU the necessary flexibility to handle different demands from logistic players.

“Some other ongoing projects are the latest assessment of creating access control to Brucargo (Code of Federal Regulations Frankfurt) and the 747-800 (B747-8F) project to accommodate two of our current clients (Korean Air and Cathay) which have ordered this type of aircraft,” Duponselle explains.

Under the Brucargo project, different forwarding companies and the Belgian Post International have settled in the first new building utilising about 25,000 square metres of capacity. This building will evolve according to growing demand. The other buildings are in different stages of development.

Duponselle says that Brussels Airport is looking to attract Asian forwarding or logistics companies to take up space at its facilities.

He explains that there are today, five handling agents, including four which are active with online carriers. The five agents include Flightcare, Aviapartner, Swissport, WFS and Skylink.

“We do not build upon risk. If a major part of the building is dedicated to one or more clients, we can start to ask for the permits and start construction. The building permit for the first new handling building is in our possession, allowing us to start work swiftly. No financial details can be shared.

“Total area is about 120,000 square metres, and of the figure, 50,000 square metres is for the extra handling zone and 65,000 square metres for the extra logistics building,” Duponselle says.

Total capacity is expected to be filled by 2015 and the Brucargo West development will take place in conjunction with the redevelopment of the Brucargo central zone in order to further optimise the capacity.

Multimodal transport strategy
In connecting BRU to the hinterland, Duponselle says: “Multimodal transport is part of our development strategy. For cargo today, our focus is mainly on the need to provide even more efficient road links.

“One project consists of having a direct access to the main highway from Brucargo, totally avoiding any traffic lights. Trucking companies will gain several minutes per ‘call’, which makes the cargo flow more efficiently, and saves cost as a result. The project will be ready early 2012.”

Asked about important of rail freight to BRU, Duponselle says that the airport was more focused on road and highway links for its customers. “High speed links are today more relevant for Europeanintegrator hubs,” he adds.