Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Dec 14, 2011 10:00AM EST
Leipzig-Halle airport boosted freight traffic by 14.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2011, helping Germany’s second largest cargo hub to outperform its larger rival Frankfurt and hit a new record high for the seventh year running.
The eastern German airport handled 691,091 metric tons through November compared with 663, 059 tons in the first 11 months of 2010.
The total cargo volume is expected to be “well above” 700,000 tons against 663,024 tons in 2010, the airport said.
“Ongoing growth in the cargo sector clearly underlines Leipzig-Halle Airport’s position as Germany’s second largest air cargo hub,” said Dierk Nather, managing director of the airport authority.
Leipzig, the global hub for Aerologic, the joint venture between DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, has continued to grow while Frankfurt has reported steady monthly declines in traffic.
Frankfurt’s traffic slumped 10.8 percent in November from a year ago, the sixth successive monthly decline. But Europe’s second largest cargo airport remains well ahead of Leipzig with traffic totaling a little over 2 million tons in the first 11 months of the year, down 2.5 percent from the same period in 2010.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.