The European airports that have seen the largest 10-year growth of freight tonnes processed are Zaragoza airport (843% increase) and Valladolid airport (837% increase) in Spain, and Burgas airport (699% increase) in Bulgaria.
As part of research by CP Cases, manufacturers of high-performance protective casing, into emerging European freight markets data was analysed between 2008 and the latest annual 2018 data from the European Commission.
Data also reveals strong growth for freight handling airports in Eastern Europe, with 6 in the top 10 fastest growing, and 7 appearing in the top 20 rankings overall. Romanian airports feature twice in the top 5 growth airports of the last 10 years - Cluj Napoca/Avram Iancu airport (621% increase) and Timisoara/Traian Vuia airport (497% growth).
Despite the increase of freight tonnes processed over the last 10 years by these European airports, there’s still a large difference between most of these and the major 20 freight hubs who process the largest amount of freight tonnes every year.
Making an impact on the major players however, four European freight airports appear in the top 20 for the 10-year growth and also the top 20 for total tonnes in 2018. These are the airports challenging the major freight hubs:
Leipzig Halle airport:
• 1.232 million tonnes (5th in Europe)
• 172% increase over 10 years
Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport:
• 972 thousand tonnes (6th in Europe)
• 173% increase over 10 years
Barcelona El Prat airport:
• 294 thousand tonnes (15th in Europe)
• 171% increase over 10 years
Zaragoza airport:
• 202 thousand tonnes (20th in Europe)
• 843% increase over 10 years
The airports that process the largest amount of freight tonnes in Europe are Frankfurt Main airport (2.25 million tonnes), Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport (2.243 million tonnes), and London Heathrow airport (1.789 million tonnes).
While there are airports in the top 20 seeing growth having an impact on the major players, others have seen a decrease in tonnes processed over the 10 year period. Brussels airport saw the largest decrease by -13% in tonnes of freight, while Frankfurt Hahn airport also saw a decrease of -10%.
Fiona Haggerty, Commercial Director of manufacturers CP Cases, states:
“Knowing the logistics map both of Europe and for the international market plays a large part in what we do at CP Cases, because it helps us to ensure our products are always doing the best job when it comes to protecting valuable equipment. While we still see products being utilised to transport equipment to the major freight hubs in Europe, we’ve noticed that some key new players are becoming increasingly popular, providing a more localised option for freight logistics.
As a company we are able to create bespoke cases for all kinds of freight logistics needs, and with investment to ensure the right infrastructure is in place, we can only see these localised hubs becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to the major European freight hubs.”
