Brussels Airport saw its cargo volumes continued to grow in July as more airlines restart began services.

"For its part, freight, and particularly full cargo, continues to make progress since an increase of 9.9% in air freight volumes was observed in July," the Belgian hub said in a statement.

Strong growth, stability in total volumes

"For the second consecutive month, air freight saw an increase in volumes transported ... This result is much more positive than the overall trend since, on a global scale, freight volume is continuing to fall largely due to the very steep decrease in belly cargo," it added.

Express services recorded an increase of 25.3%, while full cargo volumes are increasing by 89%.

The Belgian airport said these strong increases compensate for the lack of freight capacity on board of passenger aircraft (which dropped 72% during the period).

It noted that these additional flights are operated by modern full cargo planes, as well as passenger aircraft which are converted for freight transport. 

When truck freight is added (which fell by 28.4%), the volume of cargo transported in July at Brussels Airport amounted to 55,729 tonnes, an increase of 0.3% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the total number of flight movements decreased by 63.7% in July 2020 compared to July 2019, to 8,201 compared to 22,599 recorded in July 2019.

The number of passenger flights decreased by 74.1% due to the coronavirus crisis, while the number of cargo flights increased by 42.7%.