Brussels Airport recorded 2.3 million passengers in July 2023, a 5% increase on the first month of the peak summer season in the previous year, according to the hub’s latest press release.
1. Departures dominate
Departures from Brussels dominated the numbers, with more travellers leaving the European capital than arriving there for their vacations. The airport appeared to make no attempt to explain further why Brussels and Belgium would not be an attractive destination for holiday arrivals.
Unusually the mass summer departure from the city was spread over stages, due to a new approach to summer holiday timings in the French education sector, meaning French schools broke up for summer vacation after Dutch-language schools this year.
The holiday exodus was more spread out this year because the summer holidays in French-speaking schools started a week later than in Dutch-speaking schools.
Brussels Airport
2. Not a transfer hub
Similarly it was not clear why the airport is not a more successful hub for transfers from elsewhere. The 5% increase represents 2,333,665 passengers. Transfers were down to 13%, as the majority of passengers were leaving directly from the airport rather than arriving from elsewhere to connect with another flight.
The airport lists its ten most popular July 2023 destinations as: Spain, Turkey, Greece, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, respectively.
3. Cargo volumes
When it comes to cargo, volumes decreased by 8%, with flown cargo dropping to a total of 48,193 tonnes. In terms of the airport saw a decline of 11% compared to June 2022, totalling 57,272 tonnes. This has been put down to a 24% decrease in trucked volumes.
In line with global cargo trends, the overall decline was 12%. Belly cargo was down 3%, and express services also saw a slowdown to -6%.
The primary regions goods are coming in from are: Asia, Africa and North America. As for exports, Asia also occupies the number one slot, followed by North America and Africa.
4. Flight movements up: +5% compared to July 2022
The number of flight movements in July 2023 increased by 2% compared to 2022. Passenger flights rose by 6% compared to July the previous year, with an average of 150 passengers per flight – a load that remains the same despite the year-on-year increase in flights and larger aircraft.
The number of cargo flight movements meanwhile decreased by 6% compared to July 2022.
