Freight traffic in Europe rose three per cent year-on-year in November, with Turkey seeing strong growth, but with Russia falling, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Europe.
Sabiha Gokcen International Airport saw freight volumes increase by 41.7 per cent in November to 4,080 tonnes while Istanbul’s (Turkey) other airport; Istanbul Ataturk Airport was up 14.3 per cent on 2013, handling 68,378 tonnes. Antalya Airport also saw a double digit rise with 14 per cent, increasing its handeld tonnage to 619 tonnes.
Russian airports are feeling the effects of economic sanctions. Sheremetyevo International Airport has seen the smallest decline in Russia of 6.8 per cent, to 16,345 tonnes in November. Domodedevo International Airport has seen freight volumes fall by 9.5 per cent in November to 14,396 tonnes. Smaller airports in Russia have also seen drops, with Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg seeing freight fall by 18.9 per cent to 1,751 tonnes. Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport has seen freight fall by 21.1 per cent to 1,964 tonnes and Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg has seen a drop of 22.5 per cent to 2,037 tonnes.
ACI Europe director general, Olivier Jankovec, says: “Non-EU airports are now seeing a traffic slowdown at Russian airports as well as on-going traffic losses in Ukraine and to a lesser extent Israel.”
In November, Frankfurt Main Airport handled the most freight, 191,553 tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 2.7 per cent. Charles de Gaulle Airport was the second busiest airport handling 167,000 tonnes, a year-on-year decline of one per cent. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol handled the third highest quantity of freight, at 142,879 tonnes in November, a year-on-year rise of 1.4 per cent. Heathrow Airport was the fourth busiest freight airport, handling 136,419 tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 per cent.
Out of the 207 airports in the report, Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport in Ukraine saw the biggest decline in freight in November, handling five tonnes, a year-on-year drop of 93.8 per cent.
Kristiansand Airport in Norway saw a 577.8 per cent rise in freight volumes in November, handling 88 tonnes.
Between January and November the biggest decline was seen at Norway’s Bronnoysund Airport where freigth fell 69.8 per cent to 13 tonnes. Bourgas Airport in Bulgaria saw the biggest increase between January and November, of 151.3 per cent to 5,094 tonnes.
