In 2021, Brussels Airport handled 843,140 tonnes of cargo, its strongest year since 2007, up 30.4% on 2020 with flown cargo and trucked cargo both registering strong growth.
Flown cargo was up 30.6% to 668,110 tonnes of which 276,732 tonnes were on full freighters, up 43% on 2020, 294,331 tonnes were with integrators, up 20.3%, and 97,046 tonnes was belly cargo, an increase of 32.2%.
Trucked cargo was up 29.7% compared to 2020 to 175,031 tonnes.
Brussels Airport has established itself as the main export hub for Covid-19 vaccines, with more than 800 million being exported since November 2020.
Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport says: “The demand for air cargo was exceptionally high, and thanks to our investments, digitisation and our strong cargo community, Brussels Airport was able to handle this growth with ease.
“With our expertise in the transport of pharmaceuticals, as the main hub for the export of vaccines in Europe, we could do our part in the battle against Covid with more than 800 million vaccines transported, and we will undoubtedly continue to do this in the year ahead.”
In December, total cargo was up 21.4% to 69,840 tonnes with flown cargo increasing 24.9% to 56,651 tonnes and trucked cargo by 8.3% to 13,189 tonnes.
Full freighter volumes increased 48.7% to 23,034 tonnes, integrators were down by 0.4% to 23,736 tonnes and belly cargo was up 63.8% to 9,882 tonnes.