JOC Staff | Aug 21, 2009 12:49PM EDT
Cargo tonnage at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport reached its highest level of the year in July, but it was still 16.2 percent off from the same month a year ago, the airport said.
The key European gateway saw overall tonnage grow 8 percent in July from June and the year-over-year decline was the slimmest Schiphol has seen this year, adding to broader reports that the downturn in air shipping demand has bottomed out in Europe.
But tonnage for the first seven months of 2009 was still down 25.3 percent from the same period a year ago at the Dutch airport and Schiphol’s freighter traffic, a major source of air trade with Asia, remains far down.
Freighter operations were down 26.4 percent in July from the same month a year ago, and they’ve remained almost flat since carriers pulled all-cargo capacity late last year. Freighter movements at the airport were off 28.6 percent in the first seven months of the year compared to last year.