BRUSSELS: April 10, 2018. Brussels Airport reports a 2.3 percent increase in cargo tonnage for the first quarter of 2018 compared to last year due to a rise in long-haul belly upload and trucked air cargo.

In addition to Brussels Airlines, last month Emirates, Delta Air Lines, Hainan Airlines, Rwandair, Cathay Pacific, United Airlines, Thai Airways International and Ethiopian Airlines produced collective growth of 28 percent compared to 2017.

A 14.3 percent drop in air cargo via freighters during the quarter was the result of stricter noise regulations compared to 2017. The decline was offset by a 13 percent increase in widebody belly freight and an 18.6 percent rise in trucked airfreight.

Total airport throughput for the first three months of 2018 was just over 177,000 tons with 133,243 flown and the balance consigned via trucks.

While Integrator traffic rose 5.9 percent in March year-on-year, trucked cargo increased 13.5 percent during the period as imports rose 30 percent, according to Brussels Airport Company.

The increase in widebody flights not only provided more capacity for air cargo. During the first quarter of 2018 a 13.4 percent rise in transfer traffic contributed to a record 5.2 million passengers using the airport.

Compared to the first quarter of last year, Brussels has added 27 long-haul flights a week including the launch of Cathay Pacific’s service to Hong Kong in March (pictured), a second daily Emirates flight to Dubai, new Hainan Airlines routes to Shanghai and Shenzhen, a new Brussels Airline service to Mumbai, a fifth weekly Thai Airlines flight to Bangkok, the start of Qeshm Air’s service to Tel Aviv and new Rwandair flights to Kigali.