Airfreight hubs Frankfurt and London-Heathrow both saw declines in freight tonnages in May, continuing a downward trend for three of the top four European cargo airports.
Germany’s Frankfurt saw airfreight volumes fall 3.1% to 179,831 tonnes (airfreight and airmail) in May, due to “additional holidays” that dampened cargo throughput, said airport authority Fraport.
Top European cargo hub Frankfurt has seen freight declines in four of the first five months of 2015, with reported year to date volumes down 2.1% to 861,433 tonnes versus like period 2014.
Heathrow, Europe’s number four freight hub in 2014, registered its first 2015 cargo red ink in May, with a 0.7% fall to 125,067 tonnes versus last year. However, the UK’s largest cargo airport is still showing a 3% rise in reported 2015 year-to-date volumes at 618,883 tonnes.
In the rolling 12 months to May, cargo volumes at Heathrow have grown 4.9%, including increases of 44% to Mexico, 21% to Brazil, 20% to Turkey, 11% to India and 5% to China.
Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schiphol have yet to publish their May cargo figures but for the first four months of 2015, both hubs are in the red with declines of 4.2% and 2.5% respectively.
Belgian hub Brussels, a top ten 2014 European cargo hub, has seen a spectacular first five months of 2015, with an 8.4% rise in combined monthly throughputs to nearly 202,000 tonnes. It was helped by a 22.4% surge in May’s full freighter volumes.
