Brussels Airport wrapped up 2015 with a year of strong growth on both the passenger side (up 7.0 per cent) and cargo with a full 7.8 per cent growth over the previous year thanks to the full freighter and express segments.

The growth in freight was an “exceptionally strong result in comparison with other European airports where freight transport has grown only slightly or even decreased,” the airport noted. Belly cargo remained stable in comparison with 2014, but the express services and especially full-freighter transport saw strong growth of 7.0 and 18.1 per cent respectively compared to 2014.

“Our freight department saw exceptional growth of almost 8.0 per cent in 2015, thanks to the arrival of four new cargo carriers. The growth is all the more striking because air freight transport in Europe looked bleak in the last 12 months,” says Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company.

The only bad news for the year was the ceasing of flights by Ethiopian Cargo, which stopped flying to Brussels in November because the company did not obtain the requisite air traffic rights in Belgium to continue its activities in Brussels. This resulted in full-freighter volumes dropping by 25 per cent in the last two months of the year compared with 2014.

In December 2015 freight transport increased at Brussels Airport by 8.0 per cent compared to December 2014, which the airport said was a result of the sharp rise in the express services and in belly cargo. The rise can be explained by the low figures for 2014 when there was no freight transport on the provincial and national strike days.

“In 2015 Brussels Airport once again saw strong passenger growth of 7.0 per cent, confirming the exceptional growth of 2014 (+15 per cent). The growth stems from the huge success of the new services offered by Brussels Airlines, from the further development of the Star Alliance hub (with ANA, among other things) and from the strong growth of the low-cost segment,” Feist noted.

He added that 2016 is looking “very promising,” with the launch of several new destinations by Brussels Airlines, among others, which is launching a direct flight to Toronto in March and will be increasing its flights to Africa in the course of the year, and by United Airlines which will be offering a second daily flight to New York this summer.