| Brussels Airport Luchthaven Brussel-Nationaal Aéroport de Bruxelles-National |
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|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: BRU – ICAO: EBBR | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public & Military | ||
| Operator | The Brussels Airport Company | ||
| Serves | Brussels | ||
| Location | Zaventem Diegem, Machelen |
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| Hub for | |||
| Elevation AMSL | 184 ft / 56 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website | |||
| Map | |||
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BRU
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| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 02/20 | 2,987 | 9,800 | Asphalt |
| 07R/25L | 3,211 | 10,535 | Asphalt |
| 07L/25R | 3,638 | 11,936 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2010) | |||
| Passengers | 17,180,606 | ||
| Freight (tonnes) | 476,135 | ||
| Aircraft movements | 225,682 | ||
| Sources: Brussels Airport[1] | |||
Brussels Airport (IATA: BRU, ICAO: EBBR) (also called Brussel Nationaal/Bruxelles-National (Brussels National)) is an international airport 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) northeast[2] of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen,[3] both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.
Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates. It is home to around 260 companies, together directly employing 20,000 people.
In 2005, the airport was awarded Best Airport in Europe by Airports Council International/International Air Transport Association (ACI/IATA), based on a survey conducted with over 100,000 passengers worldwide.
The company operating the airport is known as "The Brussels Airport Company N.V./S.A."; before 19 October 2006, the name was BIAC (Brussels International Airport Company), which was created by Belgian law through a merger of BATC with the ground operations departments of the RLW/RVA. It is currently owned by the Australian group MAp Airports (75%) and the Belgian State (25%).
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The origins of Brussels Airport at Zaventem date back to 1940, when the German occupying force laid claim to 600 ha (1,500 acres) of agricultural fields to the east of Brussels, near the Belgian military back-up airfield "Steenokkerzeel". The Germans constructed 3 runways in the shape of a triangle: runway 02/20 and 07L/25R which are still in use today, and runway 12/30. The airfield buildings however were constructed within the territory of the nearby municipality of Melsbroek and not of Zaventem, which is why the airfield was known to the locals as the airfield of Melsbroek, or "Fliegerhorst Melsbroek" to the Germans. There is an urban legend that the site of the airport was chosen by the Germans after asking locals where to build it – the Belgians then pointed to this location as it was often foggy.
After the liberation (3 September 1944), the German infrastructure at Melsbroek fell into the hands of the British. When the old civilian airport in Haren became too small, the Belgian authorities decided to use the aerodrome at Melsbroek for the new national airport. By 1948, a new terminal building was constructed to replace the old wooden building. In the same year, the length of both runways 02/20 and 07L/25R were increased to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) and 2,450 m (8,040 ft) respectively, whereas 12/30 remained at 1,300 m (4,300 ft). The civil aerodrome of Melsbroek was officially opened by Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, the Prince Regent on 20 July 1948. From 1948 to 1956 many more buildings and facilities were erected, but almost always on the Melsbroek side of the site.
In 1955, a train line connecting the city centre of Brussels with the airport was constructed. The line was officially opened by King Baudouin on 15 May 1955. A direct train link with Leuven and Liège was opened on 12 December 2005.
In 1956 a new 2,300 m (7,500 ft) runway was constructed, the 07R/25L which runs parallel with 07L/25R. The runway is still in use today and saw its length later increased to 3,200 m (10,500 ft). In April 1956 the Belgian government decided to build a new airport, using the same runways, but with the buildings located within the territory of the municipality of Zaventem. In April 1957, construction started of the new terminal, preparing the airport for the 1958 World Fair. The grass runway 12/30 had to make way to allow for the new passenger terminal. This new airport was inaugurated 5 July 1958, almost just in time for the 1958 World Fair. So historically, the birth date of Zaventem Airport is 5 July 1958. Incidentally, the buildings on the Melsbroek side are still in use by the Belgian Air Force (15th Air Transport Wing), and is still known as Melsbroek airfield. Both Zaventem Airport and Melsbroek Air Base, the military airfield, share the same runways.
During the boom of commercial aviation in the 1960s and 1970s, several hangars were constructed. A new cargo terminal was constructed in 1976. In 1994, a brand new terminal was constructed adjacent to the old 1958 building. Two old piers were torn down and replaced by modern ones. In 2002, amidst the turmoil engulfing the demise of the national airline Sabena, a new pier was opened. This Pier A is destined to support flights from and to the Schengen treaty countries and supports since the 15 October 2008 all flights to African destinions (at the T-gates).
In 2007, the airport served 17.8 million passengers, an increase of 7% over 2006. The cargo volume in the same year amounted to 780,000 tonnes, an increase of 8.9% over 2006. In 2008, the airport served 18,5 million passengers, which was an increase of 3,7% over the previous year.[4]
Sabena's demise meant a sharp fall in passenger traffic, a blow the airport only slowly recovered from. The airport's future is threatened by disagreement between the governments of Flanders and the Brussels Capital Region concerning nocturnal air traffic routes.
The construction of a new low-cost airlines pier is currently on hold. It will be built roughly where the old south pier used to be. At present, several low-cost airlines including Ryanair and Wizz Air fly to Brussels-South Charleroi Airport, 40 km (25 mi) away from Brussels.[5]
In March 2009, the old mechanical Flight information display system were replaced by electronic ones. [6]
In September 2009, CEO Wilfried Van Assche resigned. One of the (unofficial) reasons is the delay of the construction of the low-cost terminal and the possible lawsuit by 52 airlines active at Brussels Airport, because of the tax-discrimination. In February 2010 Arnaud Feist was appointed CEO. The company president is Luc Van den Bossche (former Belgian government minister).
| Airlines | Destinations | Pier |
|---|---|---|
| Adria Airways | Ljubljana Seasonal: Pristina |
A |
| Aegean Airlines | Athens, Heraklion [begins 28 March] Seasonal: Corfu [begins 1 June] |
A |
| Aer Lingus | Cork [begins 26 March], Dublin | B |
| Aeroflot | Moscow-Sheremetyevo | B |
| Air Algérie | Algiers Seasonal: Oran |
B |
| Air Arabia Maroc | Casablanca, Nador, Tangier Seasonal: Fes, Oujda |
B |
| Air Canada | Montreal-Trudeau, Toronto-Pearson | B |
| Air France | Toulouse [begins 1 April] | A |
| Air France operated by Régional | Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes | A |
| Air Lipsia operated by Central Connect Airlines | Leipzig/Halle | A |
| Air Malta | Malta | A |
| Air One | Venice [begins 4 May] | A |
| Air Transat | Seasonal: Montreal-Trudeau | B |
| AirBaltic | Riga | A |
| Alitalia | Milan-Linate, Rome-Fiumicino | A |
| American Airlines | New York-JFK | B |
| Austrian Airlines | Vienna | A |
| Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways | Vienna | A |
| Belle Air | Tirana | B |
| Blue Air | Bacău, Bucharest-Băneasa, Constanţa | B |
| Blue1 | Helsinki | A |
| BMI operated by BMI Regional | East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford | B |
| British Airways | London-Heathrow | B |
| British Airways operated by Sun Air of Scandinavia | Billund | A |
| Brussels Airlines | Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Brandenburg [begins 3 June], Berlin-Tegel [ends 2 June], Bilbao, Bologna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Faro, Florence, Geneva, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Hamburg, Hanover, Kraków, Lamezia Terme, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Marseille, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Naples, Nice, Oslo-Gardermoen, Palermo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Porto, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Stockholm-Bromma, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw Seasonal: Catania, Seville [ends 16 April] |
A |
| Brussels Airlines | Abidjan, Accra [ends 25 March], Agadir, Bamako, Banjul, Birmingham, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Douala, Dakar, Entebbe, Freetown-Lungi, London-Heathrow, Kigali, Kinshasa-N'djili, Lomé, Luanda, Manchester, Marrakech, Monrovia, Moscow-Domodedovo, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta, New York-JFK [begins 1 June], Ouagadougou, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Yaoundé | B |
| Brussels Airlines operated by BMI Regional | Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne | B |
| Brussels Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways | Hanover | A |
| Bulgaria Air | Sofia | B |
| Croatia Airlines | Zagreb | B |
| Cyprus Airways | Larnaca [resumes 1 June] | B |
| Czech Airlines | Prague | A |
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta, New York-JFK | B |
| EasyJet | Berlin-Schönefeld, Liverpool, Lyon, Milan-Malpensa, Nice, Toulouse [begins 26 March] | A |
| EasyJet Switzerland | Geneva | A |
| EgyptAir | Cairo | B |
| El Al | Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion | B |
| Estonian Air | Tallinn | A |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa | B |
| Etihad Airways | Abu Dhabi | B |
| Finnair | Helsinki | A |
| Flybe | Manchester, Southampton | B |
| Germanwings | Stuttgart [begins 3 June] | A |
| Hainan Airlines | Beijing-Capital | B |
| Iberia | Madrid | A |
| Iberia operated by Air Nostrum | San Sebastián, Vigo | A |
| Icelandair | Seasonal: Reykjavík-Keflavík | A |
| Jat Airways | Amsterdam [ends 25 March], Belgrade | B |
| Jet Airways | Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, New York-JFK, Newark, Toronto-Pearson | B |
| Jet4you operated by Jetairfly | Tangier | B |
| Jetairfly | Ajaccio, Alicante, Almería, Araxos, Arrecife, Athens, Bastia, Burgas, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Heraklion, Ibiza, Istanbul-Atatürk, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Lamezia Terme, La Romana, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lesbos, Lourdes, Málaga, Minorca, Mykonos, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Ponta Delgada [begins 3 April], Ohrid [begins 8 May], Porto Santo, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skopje [begins 8 May], Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki, Toulon, Zakynthos, Zaragoza | A |
| Jetairfly | Agadir, Aqaba, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Boa Vista, Cairo, Brindisi, Cancún, Casablanca, Dubrovnik, Djerba, Enfidha, Fes [begins 30 June], Hurghada, Liberia, Luxor, Malé, Marrakech, Mombasa, Montego Bay, Phuket, Pristina, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Sal, Santo Domingo, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tabarka, Tangier [begins 28 June], Tirana, Tunis, Varadero, Varna, Zanzibar Seasonal: Nador |
B |
| KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper | Amsterdam | A |
| LOT Polish Airlines | Warsaw | A |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt, Munich | A |
| Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine | Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart [ends 2 June] | A |
| Malév Hungarian Airlines | Budapest | A |
| Middle East Airlines | Beirut | B |
| Ostfriesische Lufttransport | Bremen | A |
| Pegasus Airlines | Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum |
B |
| Qatar Airways | Doha | B |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca, Nador, Tangier Seasonal: Al Hoceima, Marrakech, Oujda |
B |
| Royal Jordanian | Amman-Queen Alia | B |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda | A |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Zürich | A |
| Swiss operated by Swiss European Air Lines | Basel/Mulhouse, Zürich | A |
| Syrian Air | Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus | B |
| TAP Portugal | Lisbon | A |
| TAP operated by Portugália | Porto | A |
| TAROM | Bucharest-Henri Coandă | B |
| Thai Airways International | Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi | B |
| Tunisair | Djerba, Monastir, Tunis | B |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul-Atatürk | B |
| Ukraine International Airlines | Kiev-Boryspil | B |
| United Airlines | Chicago-O'Hare, Newark, Washington-Dulles | B |
| US Airways | Philadelphia | B |
| Vueling | Barcelona, Valencia Seasonal: Seville |
A |
| Airlines | Destinations | Pier |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian Air Charter | Seasonal: Burgas, Varna | B |
| Corendon Airlines | Seasonal: Antalya, Heraklion, Hurghada | B |
| Freebird Airlines | Seasonal: Istanbul-Atatürk | B |
| Lydd Air | Seasonal: Lydd | B |
| Nouvelair | Seasonal: Djerba, Monastir | B |
| Sky Airlines | Seasonal: Antalya | B |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium | Alicante, Almería, Athens, Barcelona, Burgas, Cagliari, Catania, Chania, Chios, Corfu, Enfidha, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gerona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, La Palma, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lesbos, Lisbon, Málaga, Malta, Minorca, Mykonos, Naples, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Palermo, Rhodes, Rimini, Reus, Santorini, Tenerife-South, Venice, Zakynthos Seasonal: Tivat |
A |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium | Agadir, Antalya, Bodrum, Burgas, Cairo, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Hurghada, İzmir, Larnaca, Luxor, Marrakech, Marsa Alam, Monastir, Oujda, Paphos, Sharm el-Sheikh, Split, Taba, Tunis, Varna | B |
| TNT Airways | Seasonal: Chania, Heraklion, Rhodes | A |
| TNT Airways | Seasonal: Agadir, Antalya, Bodrum, Marrakech | B |
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aerologic | Bahrain, Hong Kong |
| Air Algérie | Algiers, Casablanca |
| Aryan Cargo Express | Mumbai |
| Asiana Cargo | Anchorage, Halifax, London-Stansted, New York-JFK, Seoul-Incheon |
| Atlas Air | |
| Cathay Pacific Cargo | Dubai, Hong Kong, Stockholm-Arlanda |
| Demavia Airlines | Kinshasa |
| DHL International | |
| EgyptAir Cargo | Cairo |
| European Air Transport | Budapest, Lisbon, London-Heathrow |
| EVA Air Cargo | Delhi, Hanoi, London-Heathrow, Taipei-Taoyuan, Vienna |
| FedEx Express | Dublin, Istanbul-Atatürk, Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
| Global Aviation & Services Group | Tripoli-Mitiga |
| Iberia Cargo operated by Gestair | Madrid |
| Kalitta Air | Bahrain, New York-JFK |
| Korean Air Cargo | Miami, Navoiy, New York-JFK, Seoul-Incheon, Vienna, Zaragoza |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca |
| Royal Jordanian Cargo | Algiers, Amman-Queen Alia, Cairo |
| Saudi Arabian Airlines Cargo | Dammam, Houston-Intercontinental, Jeddah, New York-JFK, Riyadh |
| Singapore Airlines Cargo | Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bangalore, Chennai, Chicago-O'Hare, Dhaka, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dubai, Kolkata, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Sharjah, Singapore |
| TNT Airways | Helsinki |
Brussels Airlines has its corporate head office in the b.house, Airport Building 26, located in Diegem, Machelen.[3][7] Brussels Airlines formed in 2006 as a result of a merger between SN Brussels and Virgin Express.[8] European Air Transport has its head office in Building 4–5, in Zaventem.[9]
Before Sabena went out of business, its head office was in the Sabena House on the grounds of Brussels Airport.[10] When it existed, Virgin Express had its head office in Building 116 in Zaventem.[11] SN Brussels, which formed in 2002, had its head office in Airport Building 117 in Zaventem when it existed.[12] Prior to its disestablishment, Sobelair had its head office in Building 45 in Zaventem.[13][14]
Brussels Airport can be reached by car via the A201, which is directly connected to the R0 highway. From there, the main highways of Belgium can directly be accessed.
Brussels Airport has a special separated road that provides access to the airport for bikers and pedestrians. There is also a special place to park bikes.
The Brussels National Airport railway station is located under the airport building at level −1. The train station has direct services to Brussels, De Panne, Ghent, Hasselt, Landen, Leuven, Nivelles and Quévy. The most used link to Brussels has at least 3 trains per hour. There is also now a direct train to Paris once a day with Thalys. There is a special agreement with Brussels Airlines and Jet Airways for use of this service.
A direct train link with Leuven was opened on 12 December 2005. A direct link with Antwerp and Mechelen via the so-called Diabolo line is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The Diabolo project is a public private partnership. It has been decided that all rail passengers to the Brussels National Airport railway station station pay a "Diabolo supplement" to finance the ongoing and planned work.
De Lijn provides transportation to and from various cities in Flanders. The MIVB/STIB provides transportation into Brussels city centre at Brussels Luxembourg Station via line 12 (weekdays before 8 pm) or line 21 (weekends and evenings after 8 pm).
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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