Although Frankfurt-Main Airport remains by far the number one air freight turnover location in Germany, it seems that they are getting serious competition from Leipzig Airport which is situated in the eastern part of Germany.
Volumes have topped 1 million ton mark
Leipzig/Halle Airport, which lists itself as Europe’s fifth largest air cargo hub, has announced that cargo tonnage has passed the 1 million tonnes for the first time in the airport’s
history.
The notable day was December 14, where a figure of exactly 1,002,875 was reached for the year-to-date.
This is a notable achievement for an airport which not many years ago was listed by some as being just a provincial player. However, when taking a closer look at the figure it becomes clear that
express products account for nearly 98 percent with standard air freight contributing only a marginal portion of some 20,000 tonnes. There is still room for improvement, it seems.
DHL Express is the key factor
The airport which allows a 24/7 operation was chosen by DHL Express to be their main European hub. The company has been expanding step by step during the past few years and it was only recently
that they added a complete new handling and sorting facility at the airport.
It is said that DHL has plans to expand even further at Leipzig during the coming years.
Leipzig hopes to attract further cargo carriers to the airport due to the 24/7 ruling and the fact that they claim to have enough space available to expand cargo handling facilities when and
where needed.
Record volumes
The month of November was also good whereby a new monthly cargo handling record was set. Just over 96,000 tonnes were handled which represents a 11.3% increase on the year before. The bulk of the
cargo handled was of course express shipments, but LEJ’s management states that also the general freighter charter business continues to develop at a satisfactory pace.
Overall cargo volumes between January and November of this year reached 955,267 tonnes which is a 6.3% rise on the same period last year.
The December cargo handling rush still has some days to run and Leipzig can expect to top the December 14th figure up to 1.1 million tonnes.
Johannes Jaehn, Managing Director of Leipzig/Halle Airport, stated that “By breaking through the 1 million tonne sound barrier, Leipzig/Halle Airport is underlining its role as Europe’s fastest
growing cargo hub.”
Watch out Frankfurt!
John Mc Donagh
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