Brussels Airport’s cargo department has announced healthy figures for last June, even if the results for the first semester are still negative. While some airlines moved out temporarily, some increased their operations and Amerijet moved in.
Facts & Figures first: In a press release, Brussels Airport reports a 4.8% growth for June, to which both full freighters (+71.5%) and integrators (+29.5%) - mainly DHL - contributed.
Understandably, belly cargo was down by 90.9%.
According to Steven Polmans, Director Cargo and Logistics at Brussels Airport Company, and Samuel Speltdoorn, who joined the Brussels Airport Cargo Team as a Cargo Business Development Manager
just days before the COVID-19 lockdown, the healthy figures owe mostly to the community approach taken by the airport.
After an initial drop, cargo volumes at Brussels Airport started picking up again, “initially facilitated by a demand surge in PPE, which at times brought exotic carriers to Brussels Airport,
but simultaneously supported by existing full freighter customers increasing frequencies, carriers commencing passenger freighter operations and the appearance of new tails,” the cargo
department said.
Amerijet in Brussels
One of the ‘new tails’ was Amerijet, which started operations right in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis. To this, Max Lederer, CEO of GSSA Aircargonet International, comments: “Starting with
two flights weekly on the rotation MIA-BRU-MIA beginning APR20, Amerijet International Airlines is serving a crucial demand across the Atlantic Ocean route during the COVID-19
pandemic.”
“During the first weeks, Amerijet Intl. already managed to establish efficient loading and turnaround times. With the help of Aviapartner as ground and warehouse handling agent, we were able
to offer reliable and fast service to customers during these challenging times.”
“A high load factor could be generated by Aircargonet International as Amerijet’s GSA in Germany, leading Amerijet International Airlines to introduce two additional monthly flights from end
of MAY20. The frequency is planned to be upgraded to three flights weekly in AUG20.”
“Customer satisfaction is guaranteed by short connection times from BRU via MIA Hub to the whole M6 network in the Caribbean and South American region, as well as to the U.S. by road-feeder
service. Further to this, it is worth mentioning that our partners and customers supported us from day one to develop the new route, showing their trust in our services and Amerijet’s operational
reliability,” Mr. Lederer emphasized.
Latin-American carriers out
Avianca Cargo and Latam Cargo have temporarily moved their operations to Amsterdam, where more slots had become available due to the halting of passenger flights. Both companies carry a lot of
flowers form South America to Europe and the move was seen as a way of avoiding trucking as much as possible.
For Brussels, the lack of belly space had a direct impact on the export to Africa, which is still below the pre-Covid levels due to the grounding of home carrier Brussels Airlines, the press
release admits. “But it is slowly recovering as more and more carriers resume flying.”
Looking at the June results in a bit more detail, the highest import growth came from Africa and Asia with export volumes mainly growing towards Asia and North America, reads BRU’s release.
Marcel Schoeters in Brussels
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