Cologne-Bonn airport has recorded the highest increase in cargo volumes 25% to 235,580 tonnes in a decade, which has seen a double figure growth rates since August 2020.It has achieved the highest increase in the last ten years.
In March alone, the record high of last December was surpassed, with a volume of more than 87,800 tonnes of air cargo, setting a new historical record.
Compared to the same month in the previous year, express cargo companies UPS, FedEx and DHL transported around a quarter more goods and the general cargo airlines almost fifty percent more.
The increase in tonnage, said airport management in a release, is due to the increasing importance of e-commerce and the worldwide transport of medical goods, protective equipment, and vaccines.
In addition, due to the reduced number of passenger flights, there is a corresponding deficit in belly hold capacity.
“Cologne Bonn Airport is one of the largest and most important hubs worldwide when it comes to express shipments and international deliveries,” said Johan Vanneste, the airport’s president, and chief executive in a company statement. “We are pleased to be able to play our part in these difficult times by ensuring that people are supplied with the goods they need, and fast, whether it be coronavirus tests, vaccines or any other items.”
Added an airport spokesperson in a company release, “All of these factors have led to an increase in demand for air cargo and thus to additional flights, as well as a higher level of utilisation of the aircraft being used.
“In the first quarter of the year, for example, an average of three tonnes more goods were transported per aircraft and there was an increase in particular in the number of flights on inner-European routes and to the American express air cargo hubs of Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee.”
An additional factor that contributed to the growth in the airport’s cargo business was the number of new cargo customers who started using Cologne Bonn more frequently during the last year.
