Since the beginning of the year, Liege Airport has seen significant growth in both aircraft movements and tonnage carried. The month of May confirms this upward trend.

During May 2024, the number of cargo aircraft movements rose by 11.3% compared with the same month in 2023 (2,256 vs 2,026). Tonnage rose by 13.4% (95,905 tonnes vs 84,582 tonnes) in May 2024 compared with May 2023. This growth in volumes at Liege Airport exceeds the global trend for freight transport, as noted in the latest monthly report published by DHL: ‘Global demand for air freight remained strong in May, up 9% on the same period last year.

Increased demand for e-commerce and the modal shift from sea freight to air freight due to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East continue to drive air volumes." Even more interesting is the comparison with the last reference year, 2019 (before the pandemic). ACI Europe noted that ‘in April 2024, freight traffic was 2.5% above pre-pandemic levels (April 2019).
Liege Airport did considerably better, with an increase of 33% for April 2024 compared with April 2019, and an average of 28% growth for the first 5 months of 2024 compared with the first 5 months of 2019 (see the graph below).