BRU: Monthly traffic figures 2012

[Atlantis]

A new year, new figures.

JANUARY


PAX


During January, Brussels Airport received 1.154.894 pax or an increase with +3% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

Only transfer did a good job with an increase with +24,1% when we compare this with the same month of last year.
Originating pax saw a decrease with -0,6%



CARGO

During January, Brussels Airport and Brucargo handled 35.053 ton of cargo or a decrease with -4,2% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

This time also belly cargo saw a decrease.

Singapore Airlines Cargo increased their number of flights but Cathay Pacific Cargo and Eva Air Cargo saw multiple times a cancellation of their flights


MOVEMENTS

In January there were 16.227 movements on the airport or a decrease with -6,5% when we compare this with the same month of last year.
Both passengers flights as cargo flights saw a decrease while non-commercial flights saw an increase.

[Atlantis]

FEBRUARY


PAX


In February, Brussels Airport welcomed 1.177.420 pax or an increase with +7,8%. This is huge if we compare this with airports in the same segment as Brussels Airport.
Of course the day extra in February gives some more pax but this is only a very smal % compared to this.
Flights of SN, LCC and Long haul did a very good job with good load factors.

Originating: 493.838 pax: +5,6%
Transfer: 91.304 pax: +22,7%
Transit: 14.517 pax: -5,8%


CARGO

Brussels Airport and Brucargo handled during February 39.886 ton of cargo or in increase with +6,6% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

As previously announced as well as Saudi Arabian Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Korean Air Cargo increased their number of flights to Bru.

Full Freighter: 28.618 ton: +8,8%
Belly freight: 11.268 ton: +1,2%



MOVEMENTS

In February there were 16.531 movements on the airport or a decrease with -3,2% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

[DeltaWiskey]

In February, Brussels Airport welcomed 1.177.420 pax or an increase with +7,8%. This is huge if we compare this with airports in the same segment as Brussels Airport.
Of course the day extra in February gives some more pax but this is only a very smal % compared to this.

The extra day is not "very small", it is very significant actually, it is >3%. However with that in mind, BRU realized a decent growth still.

Airports which achieved around 4% growth in february, e.g. heathrow, actually had a net growth of <1%, due to that extra day.

[lumumba]

what's the difference between transfer and transit?
thx
Pat

[RoMax]

Brussels Airport talked about an estimated impact of approximately 3,5% for the extra day in their press release (see: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=46960).

So an actual increase of about 4,3%, still not bad looking at the current economic situation and some other European airports.

[DannyVDB]

I am curious what the contribution of SN ill be to this. I expect almost doule digit growth for SN ...

The decrease in transit in fact means that less pax of JetAirways are staying on the 'same flights'. It means more pax is coming from Bxl, from other cities or are changing flights in BRU. Maybe the pairs as defined now are sub-optimal?

Cheers,
Danny

[Flanker]

It's pretty simple to explain the strong percentual increase in tranfer pax actually.
Spanair and Malev pax rebooked on other carriers and more people transfrred through BRU to get to their final destination.

Usually those destinations were airports like LHR or CPH, hence why those don't see a strong increase because essentially they are receiving the same traffic, who just transferred through a hub instead of coming in directly.

Double digit growth at SN? You wish.
Load factor increase yes, probably, given the amount of capacity cut.

However, all this is relatively short-term.
The ones to benefit the most as the dust settles will be the LCC's. Vueling saw significant increase in traffic and CRL numbers will be impressive.

Notice that the percentual increase of originating pax is in lines with weekly averages of AEA airlines if you omit the extra day.
Also notice that transfer pax saw a relatively big jump in percentage terms, but in absolute terms, the increase is fairly small.

Not to burst your bubble, but March looks like it's going to be fairly ugly for the non-LCC's.
There is negative growth for the first week in line with the negative trend from the beginning of the year.

[andorra-airport]

what's the difference between transfer and transit?
thx
Pat

Transfer passengers are those who continue the journey on different aircrafts.
Transit passengers are those, who continue on the same aircraft.

[RoMax]

It's pretty simple to explain the strong percentual increase in tranfer pax actually.
Spanair and Malev pax rebooked on other carriers and more people transfrred through BRU to get to their final destination.

Usually those destinations were airports like LHR or CPH, hence why those don't see a strong increase because essentially they are receiving the same traffic, who just transferred through a hub instead of coming in directly.

Well...we see these kind of transfer numbers since many months. Malév and Spanair may had a small influence, but I doubt a noticable influence...(at least not for BRU, it do had an influence for other airports) Star Alliance is responsible for this growth in transfer traffic.

[Flanker]

You have a point there.
I didn't check the last months indeed and it seems that this is indeed a trend in the lat months.

Surely not a game changer, but definitely a welcome extra revenue.

In the meanwhile, oil is up and euro down.
Traffic forecasts for March-April are abysmal, May seems a bit better.

[Atlantis]

MARCH

PAX


In March, Brussels Airport welcomed 1.425.683 pax or an increase with +1,4% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

Originating: 604.590: +0,3%
Transfer: 113.459: 28,8%
Transit: 12.995: -13,1%

During March, Hainan Airlines increased their number of flights from 4 tot 5 flights, Aer Lingus started a new three week flight to Cork with an A320, GermanWings is a new LCC on the airport while the took over the Stuttgart flights, Air Canada is using now a B767 instead of their A330, Estonian is going to fly 10 times to Tallin instead of 6 times,


CARGO

In March, Brussels Airport and Brucargo handled 46.409 ton of cargo or an increase with +6,1% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

Full freighter: 33.380 ton: +7,9%
Belly cargo: 13.029 ton: +1,8%


MOVEMENTS

In March there were 18.539 movements on the airport or a decrease with -7,3% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

[flightlover]

Good to see the numbers increase. Just hope it also means LF's are on the rise also.

[Atlantis]

Good to see the numbers increase. Just hope it also means LF's are on the rise also.

This we can see in the difference between the rising pax figures and the decreasing movement figures.
I have to admit that the biggest part in decreasing movement figures is due to the non-commercial flights because in March last year there was a lot of traffic due to the European crisis (a lot of meetings in Brussels)

But besides that, more bigger planes flying to BRU (Intra-EU) with a good LF or even an increased LF.

[Inquirer]

Good to see the numbers increase. Just hope it also means LF's are on the rise also.

This we can see in the difference between the rising pax figures and the decreasing movement figures.
I have to admit that the biggest part in decreasing movement figures is due to the non-commercial flights because in March last year there was a lot of traffic due to the European crisis (a lot of meetings in Brussels)

But besides that, more bigger planes flying to BRU (Intra-EU) with a good LF or even an increased LF.

I suppose that is a consequence of Brussels Airlines fleet change, with the A319 replacing the RJ on several routes?

Transfer pax numbers are really on the rise too: STAR alliance effect?

Btw, excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between transfer and transit passengers?
(edit: saw this was answered already, my appologies. Seems like Jet Airways had a terrible month then!)

[DannyVDB]

Hi Inquirer,

The decrease in transit passengers is already ongoing for months ...

It does not necessarily mean Jet Airways is doing bad. When I visited them a few months ago, they had around 25% local passengers (going to India/North-America), 25% from the rest of Europe (going to India/North-America) and 50% between India and North-America (or vice versa) of which only part is transit.

The decrease in transit might only mean that more passengers from India change planes in Brussels rather than continue on the same plane (e.g. instead of going from Mumbai to Newark, changing planes to Toronto). Also the number of pax checking in in Brussels or coming from other parts of Europe and transferring in Brussels might have increased.

But of course one can only be sure when detailed figures are available.

Cheers,
Danny

[Inquirer]

You have a valid point indeed.
They are using a 77W on BOM on some days of the week which does not continue transatlantically.
In that case the number of transit passengers is indeed decreasing by definition as even those onboard the flight from BOM which otherwise continues to Toronto it is I think will have to change plane in BRU.

[Atlantis]

APRIL

PAX


In April, Brussels Airport welcomed 1.613.667 pax or an increase with +0,4% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

Originating: 680.619 pax: -4,1%
Transfer: 123.841 pax: +18,6%
Transit: 9.979 pax: -11,2%


CARGO

In April, Brucargo and Brussels Airport handled 38.779 ton of cargo or an increase with +1,2% when we compare this with the same month of last year.

full cargo: 26.229 ton: -2,4%
belly cargo: 12.550 ton: +9,6%


MOVEMENTS

In April there were 18.628 movements on the airport or a decrease with -4,2%.

[LJ]

Hereby the May results

The total number of pax in May is 1,707,452 which is a small increase of 0.1% of which

O&D: 714,171 (-2.3%)
Transfer: 125,196 (+11.9%)
Transit: 13.687 (-4.0%)

Cargo figures went into the red as tonnage declined by 1.4% (which is still not bad compared to other airports around BRU) to 40,321 tons.

Freighter cargo: 27,338 (-6.7%)
belly cargo: 12,984 (+11.7%)

Movements at BRU were also down (-6.0%) to 20,267 movements.
Passenger flights: 17,571 (-5.4%)
Cargo flights: 1,020 (+6.4%)
Non commercial flights: 1,676 (-17.2%)

Overall it seems as if the current crisis in the EU is becoming visible in the travel statistics. Passenger traffic (which looked promising in the beginning of the year) is almost in negative territory (fortunately SN started JFK in June so this may have a positive impact next month). O&D is However, the economic impact is most visible in the cargo market. Whilst the number of flights increased by 6.4%, total freighter traffic declined by 6.7%. Not a good sign. However, cargo figures at other airports seem to be a lot worse thus relatively speaking BRU does well.

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

It is some time ago that figures were posted for Brussels airport.
The figures are released for August 2012 (BRU website). Already for some months the increase is quite low, not surprising though (economic downturn, no real further developments or new operators). But other airports are still growing! I am curious what the impact will be on figures of the two JFK services that will stop in the winter season. This might have negative growth figures as a consequence. But I don't have an idea of the order of magnitude (there will also be a further decrease of transfer pax I assume) ...

Total Pax: 1.930.954 (+1,5%) of which departing passengers are classified as follows:
O&D: 743.020 (+4,2%)
Transfer: 150.550 (-1,6%) [This is a long time ago that this figures decreased]
Transit: 15.522 (+26,9%) [This is a long time ago that this figure increased]

Movements: 19.121 (-4,4%)

Total cargo: 36.473 (-0,3%) of which
Full freighter: 15.209 (-8,6%)
Integrator: 9.124 (+0,4%)
Belly: 12.139 (+11,7%)

[skumfiduse]

If you'd ask me, the impact of losing those 2 JFK connections will be rather limited. A kind of consolidation took place, which was about time. Now, don't forget there's Thai putting in more capacity and an additional rotation starting Winter 2012.

Then, what is certainly encouraging to see is the continuous positive trend of pax vs decreasing trend of movements. Meaning more capacity per flight (pax and belly cargo).

Let's see what 2013 will bring – whereas the economic situation, fuel price development and CRL-competition are the main threads.