BRU has first decline in cargo volume in months, which strike may worsen

Today, Brussels Airport (BRU) released its January traffic results, in which volume decreased by 3.2 percent to about 55,000 tonnes, year-over-year. Meanwhile, a planned national strike to affect all of Belgium next week may exacerbate the slowdown.

BRU has been gaining steam in its cargo efforts over the last few years, establishing itself as an alternative to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), its freight hub neighbor to the north, which has notoriously become overly congested with traffic. But this is “the first time in months” that the airport’s cargo division has recorded “a slightly negative growth,” BRU said.

The airport suggested that declines are on trend with the market, referencing declines in cargo traffic observable in other European airports in the final months of 2018. It is true that Vienna (VIE) and London Heathrow (LHR) both saw negative growth in December, y-o-y, of about 4 and 8 percent respectively, but other regional hubs like AMS, Budapest (BUD) and Frankfurt (FRA) scraped by with marginal increases during the month.