Schiphol’s airlines have stepped up their belly cargo operations as freighter capacity constraints continue to bite.
Last week, the airport reported it had seen 4.2% growth in belly cargo in 2018, but overall cargo volumes were down 2.5% year on year.
Total freight volumes were 1.7m tonnes, making Schiphol Europe’s third-largest air cargo hub; but full freighter movements fell 10.4% and freighter volumes were down 7%.
“Expanding in terms of flight movements is not possible,” said Bart Pouwels, head of cargo. “But … due to capacity constraints, cargo volume in the bellies of passenger aircraft have increased.”
“There’s been positive figures for flower and perishables volumes, such as fresh fruits (roses, fresh cut flowers, citrus fruit, peaches and nectarines), mostly coming from South America.”