Liege Airport cargo growth flatlines following EU e-commerce charge

Cargo specialist Liege Airport has been one of Europe’s fastest-growing freight hubs in recent years but the European Union’s introduction of a charge on low-value parcels has put the brakes on growth.

The Belgian airport today released its traffic figures for the third quarter of the year, which showed that cargo volumes were 0.1% down year on year at 334,950 tonnes, while aircraft movements dropped by 6% compared with last year to 6,826.

To put the fall in context, the airport registered an 11% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in the first half of the year.

Liege said the fall in movements is mainly due to the introduction, on 1 July 2026, of a €3 tax on imported parcels valued at less than €150.

The charge was introduced to try and stem the flow of e-commerce goods into the bloc.

Since its introduction, volumes of small parcels have fallen by 42%, directly affecting part of the e-commerce-

related business and reducing the number of flights dedicated to this segment.

However, the airport was also keen to point out that over the first nine months of the year, cargo volumes have continued to grow and are 7.3% ahead of last year’s levels at just over 1m tonnes. Flight numbers are up 0.1% at 21,180.

Liege Airport chief executive Laurent Jossart said: “The sluggish growth in the third quarter reflects the immediate impact of the new tax regime applied to small parcels.

“However, when we look at the results since the start of the year, we can see that the airport continues to grow. We are recording stable traffic in terms of the number of movements, have passed the 1m tonne mark and are seeing particularly strong growth in exports.

“These results demonstrate the resilience of our hub and the diversification of our cargo operations.”

The airport said that the growth levels registered over the first nine months of the year are driven in particular by strong export performance.

Between January and September 2026, exports totalled 453,265 tonnes, compared with 382,299 tonnes a year earlier – an increase of 18.5%.

Air Cargo News has requested the airport traffic figures for September.

In August, the airport remarked that the new charge had “profoundly altered the structure of imports”.