Europe’s fifth-largest cargo airport sets a new record in October, thanks to demand for freighter capacity and strong e-retail growth.
Freight volumes at Europe’s fifth-largest cargo airport, Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ), are continuing to grow at double-digit rates, as demand for freighter capacity and strong e-retail growth set a new record for the airport’s air freight volumes in October.
Cargo tonnages increased, year on year, by 10.9% in October to 124,881 tonnes, while the number of cargo flights increased by 8.7% to 4,501 compared to October the previous year.
This means that air cargo volumes during the first ten months of the year grew by 8.4% to more than 1.11 million tonnes, “growing far above the average figures and in contrast to the negative trend elsewhere in Germany”, the airport noted.
Among the reasons for its growth are increasing volumes for e-retail giant Amazon, with Amazon Air opening its first regional air cargo centre in Europe at LEJ at the beginning of November. The company is using a newly constructed freight facility measuring 20,000 square metres with direct access to the apron area.
The airport told Lloyd’s Loading List: “While belly freight was unable to take off on board passenger planes at many other places because of the pandemic, the number of cargo flights continued to grow dynamically at LEJ – by more than 5% compared to 2019 to a figure of more than 36,000 between January and September.”
“We are currently seeing an increasing number of express and e-commerce as well as pharmaceutical shipments. We have special certification for pharmaceuticals. General cargo volumes are also increasing slightly.”
LEJ is also DHL Express’s largest hub anywhere in the world, handling up to 2,000 tonnes of goods every day for the integrator. LEJ is also the home base airport for AeroLogic, a joint venture involving DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo.
Source: Lloyd´s
