Whilst passenger transport continues to be severely impacted by the pandemic, the volume of air cargo handled by Cologne/Bonn has seen steady growth rates in double figures since August of last year.
During the first quarter of 2021, cargo volume at Cologne Bonn Airport rose by 25% to a figure of 235,580 tonnes, achieving the highest increase in the last ten years.
In the month of March alone, the record high of last December was topped with a volume of more than 87,800 tonnes of air cargo, setting a new historical record. Compared to the same month in the previous year, express cargo companies UPS, FedEx and DHL transported around a quarter more goods and the general cargo airlines almost fifty percent more.
“Cologne Bonn Airport is one of the largest and most important hubs worldwide when it comes to express shipments and international deliveries,” said Johan Vanneste, president and CEO of Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH.
“We are pleased to be able to play our part in these difficult times by ensuring that people are supplied with the goods they need, and fast, whether it be coronavirus tests, vaccines or any other items.”
The increase in tonnage is due, on the one hand, to the role that air cargo is playing in the worldwide transport of medical goods, protective equipment and vaccines and, on the other, to the increasing importance of e-Commerce. In addition to this, due to the reduced number of passenger flights, there is a corresponding deficit in terms of the capacity for cargo which is normally provided by passenger aircraft.
