Schiphol airport has recently stopped growing because of regulations with the area. However, there are still opportunities to grow which do not involve increasing the number of flights: increase the amount of cargo transported in the so-called belly’s of commercial flights.
The belly refers to the hold of an aircraft which normally contains check-in baggage. By allowing for more cargo to be transported with commercial flights, Schiphol could contain its position as leading transfer point for air cargo. Traditionally, most cargo is transported by full freighters. However, the number of cargo flights is decreasing because there are fewer take-off and landing places than in previous years. This has caused several cargo airlines to move their flights to destinations such as Luik, Brussel and Maastricht. In order to ensure that cargo traffic is given room to grow again, Schiphol and air freight forwarders must investigate how more capacity can be found in the belly's.
According to Floris de Haan, senior researcher Air Transport Economics at Erasmus School of Economics, this is already an ongoing trend. ‘More and more cargo is finding its way to the previously unused belly.’ A Boeing 777 has room for around 30 ton of cargo. For comparison, a Boeing 747-cargo aircraft has room for around 100 ton of cargo. Over the past year, 44 percent of all cargo was transported in the belly of passenger flights. De Haan sees the advantage of this trend. ‘The cost per kilogram transported is much lower. The pilots are flying anyway, so you are mainly dealing with the gradually increasing fuel costs.’
The full article can be downloaded below (in Dutch).