Liege Airport has concluded a banner year with with 10 per cent growth in cargo volumes to 650 000 tonnes transiting through the airport. An investment to the tune of €16 million will help underpin development in 2016, the airport said.

“The new airlines – Qatar Airways and ANA Aviation – have boosted our activity”, explains Luc Partoune, general manager of Liege Airport. “And TNT has also shown very strong growth. CAL, El Al and Icelandair are also on the up.”

The number of aircraft movements decreased by 2.61 per cent, from 42,140 movements in 2014 to 41, 039 this year. Passenger numbers remained stable with 299,292 passengers carried, compared with 302,813 in 2014 (-1.16 per cent). “It was a rather difficult year, with a considerable drop in Thomas Cook’s activities, discontinuation of flights to Tunisia, Egypt following the attacks, the end of activities of VLM and BMI who operated here for a short while only.”

The airport noted however, that passenger activities are consolidated by the arrival of huge numbers of Chinese tourists: “We are the first airport in Europe that has met this challenge, i.e. attracting and retaining U-Tour, the first Chinese tour operator in Europe.”