A record year for Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines expects record cargo year thanks to strong African ties.

With only a few weeks left in 2014, Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines expects to report record-high cargo revenues this year, citing unprecedented demand for air freight services and the company’s decision to maintain daily service to the West African cities of Monrovia, Conakry, and Freetown during the Ebola crisis – one of the few passenger airlines to maintain its pre-outbreak schedule.

The carrier operates eight widebodies – three A330-200s and five A330-300s – and thirty-eight narrowbody aircraft. But to keep up with demand for healthcare supplies to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Brussels Airlines chartered main-deck capacity on an MD-11F from Nigerian carrier Allied Air, which uses Belgium’s Liège Airport (LGG) as its European hub. Cargo revenue, which traditionally represents about 6% to 7% of the Brussels Airlines’ revenues, is expected to make up a significantly larger slice of the pie in 2014.