March 2024 confirms Liege Airport’s excellent start to the year, with tonnage up 16% on March 2023.
Over the month of March 2024, the number of cargo aircraft movements rose by 8% compared with the same period in 2023. Freight traffic rose by 16% (104,080 tons vs. 90,097 tons) in March 2024, and by more than 14% year-to-date in 2024.
This increase in volumes outstrips the trend in global demand of 11%, as revealed by an analysis by Xeneta. Cargo air transport got off to a stronger start than forecasted at the end of 2023. E-commerce and the difficulties encountered by maritime transport in the Red Sea and its modal shift towards airfreight further fuelled this strong growth.
The airport’s transformation continues, with operations taking place more during the day and less at night. In March 2024 the number of night flights was 12% down in comparison to March 2023 (860 movements vs. 981 movements), while daytime movements grew by 26%. In addition, since the beginning of the year the airport has seen a reduction in the number of flights operated by both the B747-400F and 747- 200F (-8%), the least acoustically efficient aircraft.
Laurent Jossart, CEO Liege Airport: “We are particularly pleased with the growth in volumes at Liege Airport’s logistics and multimodal hub. We beat our all-time record for volumes in a week 13 of the year (previous record set in 2021). This is a big encouragement for the future and confirms the validity of our Masterplan 2023- 2040.”
