This is an increase of 6,4% on 2023. Holiday travel, particularly trips to visit family and friends, saw the highest increase.
In December, Brussels Airport welcomed 1,773,930 passengers (up 11% on December 2023), which brings the total for 2024 to 23,610,856 passengers.
10 new destinations
Last year, Brussels Airport expanded its passenger network with 10 new destinations and five new airlines.
In the long-haul segment, these are Nairobi (Brussels Airlines), Singapore (Singapore Airlines), Bangkok (Thai Airways), Curaçao (TUI fly) and Shanghai (Hainan Airlines and Juneyao Air).
New destinations in the short-haul segment are Krakow (Brussels Airlines), Bergen (Wideroe), Gazipaşa (Corendon Airlines), Bari (Transavia) and Tromsø (Norwegian).
Cargo: 5% increase in flown cargo compared to 2023
In 2024 the total cargo volume amounted to 732,797 tonnes, or a 5% increase compared to 2023. Flown cargo at Brussels Airport recorded a 5% increase compared to 2023, in line with the global trend. Four new airlines started cargo operations at Brussels Airport: LATAM Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, Farcargo and Virgin Atlantic.
In the full-freight segment, volumes remained stable compared to 2023, with a slight increase of +0.1%. Belly cargo increased by 23% due to the continued recovery of passenger flights and the new intercontinental destinations. The integrator segment also remained stable (-0.2%) compared to 2023.
In December, total cargo volumes carried through Brussels Airport recorded a 38% increase compared to December 2023. Flown cargo increased by 43%, partly driven by the year-end peak and the announced increase in flights by LATAM Cargo. Volumes increased across all segments: full freight (+57%), express services (+28%), belly cargo (+49%), and trucked cargo (+14%).
Flights
The total number of flight movements increased by 3% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 198,617 flight movements. The number of passenger flights increased by 4% compared to 2023. The number of passengers per flight is up from 141 in 2023 to a new record of 144, due to the use of larger aircraft and an ever-increasing load factor. The number of cargo flights increased slightly by 1% compared to 2023.
In 2024, the independent slot coordinator (BSC) allocated 15,866 night slots, which complies with the legal limit of maximum 16.000 night slots.
There were 16,175 commercial flight movements during the night (between 11pm and 6am) in 2024, which is lower than in 2023 (16,284 commercial night flight movements).There are often operational reasons for night flights without night slots, such as delays or operational problems.
More detailed figures are available in our press release.