Airport Brussels (Belgium) - Zaventem
Brussels Airport (IATA: BRU, ICAO: EBBR) (also called in Dutch: Luchthaven Zaventem or in French: Aéroport de Zaventem), also Zaventem Airport or Brussels (Zaventem) International Airport, was formerly known as "Brussel Nationaal/Bruxelles-National" (Brussels National). It is an international airport located in Zaventem, near Brussels, Belgium. The airport is a hub to Brussels Airlines, European Air Transport, Jet Airways, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Eva Air Cargo and Saudi Arabian Cargo. It is also a hub for a private company called Abelag Aviation
The airport is home to around 260 companies, together directly employing 20,000 people.
In 2005, the airport was awarded Best Airport in Europe by ACI/IATA, based on a survey conducted with over 100,000 passengers worldwide.
The airport received an official name on 19 October 2006: Brussels Airport, Welcome to Europe. According to the airport operator, its main characteristics are: European, Welcoming and Efficient.
The company operating the airport is known as "The Brussels Airport Company N.V./S.A."; before October 19, 2006, the name was BIAC (Brussels International Airport Company).
History
The airport was constructed during World War II by the German occupying force. There is an urban legend that the site of the airport in Zaventem 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 German occupation, the Belgian army took control of the airport. When the old civilian airport in Haren became too small, it was decided to use the site in Zaventem for the new national airport. By 1948, a new terminal building was constructed to replace the old wooden building.
In 1955, a train line connecting Brussels with the airport was constructed. A direct train link with Leuven and Liège was opened on December 12, 2005. A link with Antwerp will be completed in 2010. In April 1957, construction started of the new terminal, preparing the airport for the 1958 World Fair. During the boom of commercial aviation in the 1960's and 1970's, 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. The airport is operated by The Brussels Airport Company, owned by the Australian financial group Macquarie (75%) and the Belgian State (25%). The company president is Luc Van den Bossche (Former Belgian Minister) and the CEO is Wilfried Van Assche.
In 2007, the airport served 17.8 million passengers, an increase of 7% over 2006. The cargo volume in the same year amounted to 780,000tonnes, an increase of ¨8.9% over 2006.
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.
Brussels Airport is operated by The Brussels Airport Company, formerly known as 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.
A new 'low-cost airlines' pier will be completed before the end of 2009. It will be built in place of the old south pier. At present, several low-cost airlines including Ryanair and Wizzair fly to "Brussels South Airport", actually located in Charleroi, 40km away from Brussels.[1]
this Image shows the airport prior to the construction of Pier A in 2002
Incidents and accidents
The only serious accident in the vicinity of the airport was the crash of Sabena Flight 548, a Boeing 707 on 15 February 1961. The plane crashed during approach, killing all 72 people on board and one on the ground. [2]
Four aircraft were destroyed on 5 May 2006 when Sabena Technics' Hangar 40 burned out. The stricken aircraft were one Lockheed C-130 Hercules (Belgian Air Component) and three Airbus A320 (Armavia, Armenian International Airways and Hellas Jet).
On 25 May 2008, a Boeing 747-200F operated by Kalitta Air, overran the runway, crashed into a field and split in three. The five people on board were taken to hospital with four receiving minor injuries.[3]
Airlines and destinations
Pier A
- Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
- Air France (Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon)
- Air Malta (Malta)
- Air One (Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino)
- airBaltic (Riga, Vilnius)
- Alitalia (Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fuimicino)
- Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
- British Airways
- Brussels Airlines (Athens, Barcelona, Berlin-Tempelhof, Bilbao, Bologna, Budapest, Cagliari, Catania, Copenhagen, Faro, Frankfurt, Florence, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki,Krakow, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Lyon, Madrid, Malaga, Marseille, Milan-Bergamo, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Murcia, Naples, Nice, Oslo, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Rome-Fuimicino, Stockholm-Bromma, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw)
- Czech Airlines (Prague)
- easyJet (Berlin-Schönefeld, Milan-Malpensa [begins 18 June], Nice)
- Estonian Air (Tallinn)
- Finnair (Helsinki)
- FlyLal (Vilnius)
- Iberia Airlines (Madrid)
- Jetairfly (Almeria, Bourgas, Brindisi, Malaga, Toulon, Zaragoza)
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
- LOT Polish Airlines (ód (begins July 2008), Pozna (Begins July 2008), Warsaw, Wrocaw)
- Lufthansa (Berlin-Tegel, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart)
- Malév Hungarian Airlines (Budapest)
- MyAir (Bari)
- Olympic Airlines (Athens)
- Ostfriesische Lufttransport (Bremen)
- Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm-Arlanda)
- SkyEurope (Vienna, Prague)
- Sterling Airlines (Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm-Arlanda)
- TAP Portugal (Lisbon, Porto)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Alicante, Bourgas, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Malaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos)
- VLM Airlines (London-City)
- Vueling Airlines (Barcelona, Seville, Valencia)
Pier B
- Aer Lingus (Dublin)
- Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
- Afriqiyah Airways (Tripoli)
- Air Algérie (Algiers, Oran [seasonal])
- Air Transat (Montréal, Toronto-Pearson [begins May 2008]) [both seasonal]
- Air Zimbabwe (Harare, Kinshasa) [Summer 2008]
- American Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, New York-JFK)
- Atlas Blue (Al-Hoceima, Marrakech, Oujda, Tangier)
- BlueAir (Bucharest-Bneasa, Constanta [begins August 12, 2008])
- bmi (London-Heathrow)
- British Airways (London Heathrow)
- Brussels Airlines (Abidjan, Banjul, Birmingham, Bristol, Bujumbura, Conakry, Douala, Dakar, Entebbe, Freetown, Geneva, Kigali, Kinshasa, London-Gatwick, Luanda, Manchester, Monrovia, Moscow-Domodedovo, Nairobi, Newcastle, Prague, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Yaoundé)
- Bulgaria Air (Sofia)
- Bulgarian Air Charter (Bourgas, Varna) [seasonal]
- Continental Airlines (Newark)
- Corendon Airlines (Antalya)
- Croatia Airlines (Split [seasonal], Zagreb)
- Cyprus Airways (Larnaca)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK)
- Eastern Airways (Southampton)
- easyJet
- EgyptAir (Cairo, Luxor)
- El Al (Tel Aviv)
- Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa)
- Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi)
- Flybe (Exeter, Manchester, Southampton)
- Free Bird Airlines (Bodrum, Antalya) [seasonal]
- Hainan Airlines (Beijing)
- Jat Airways (Amsterdam, Belgrade)
- Jet Airways (Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, New York-JFK, Newark, Toronto-Pearson)
- Jetairfly (Agadir, Aqaba, Cairo, Cancun, Dubrovnik, Djerba, Hurghada, Luxor, Marrakech, Monastir, Montego Bay, Nador, Orlando-Sanford [begins 22 June], Oudja, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Sharm el-Sheik, Tabarka, Tangier, Tunis, Varadero, Varna)
- Koral Blue Airlines (Sharm el-Sheik)
- MyAir (Bucharest-Bneasa)
- Onur Air (Antalya, Istanbul-Atatürk) [seasonal]
- Pegasus Airlines (Antalya, Bodrum) [seasonal]
- Royal Air Maroc (Casablanca, Nador, Oujda, Tangier)
- Swiss International Air Lines (Basel/Mulhouse, Zürich)
- Syrian Arab Airlines (Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus)
- TAROM (Bucharest-Otopeni)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Agadir, Antalya, Choayang, Djerba, Istanbul, Izmir, Malta, Marsa Alam, Varna)
- Tunisair (Djerba, Monastir, Tunis)
- Turkish Airlines (Ankara, Istanbul-Atatürk)
- Ukraine International Airlines (Kiev-Boryspil)
- United Airlines (Washington-Dulles)
- US Airways (Philadelphia)
Cargo airlines
- Air Algerie (Algiers, Casablanca)
- Air Atlanta Cargo
- Asiana Cargo (Anchorage, London-Stansted, New York-JFK, Seoul-Incheon)
- Cargo B (Bogota, Bridgetown, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cairo, Campinas, Dakar, Johannesburg, Latacunga, Lima, Nairobi, Sao Paulo-Guarulhos, Tripoli)
- Cathay Pacific Cargo (Dubai, Hong Kong, Manchester, Munich, Stockholm-Arlanda)
- DHL International
- Ethiopian Cargo (Addis Abebbe)
- EVA Air Cargo (Delhi, Dubai, London-Heathrow, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- European Air Transport
- Gemini Air Cargo
- Icelandair Cargo (Rekjavik-Keflavik)
- Kalitta Air
- Korean Air Cargo (Delhi, Seoul-Incheon, Vienna)
- Royal Jordanian Cargo (Algiers, Amman, Cairo)
- Saudi Arabian Cargo (Damman, Houston-Intercontinental, Jeddah, New York-JFK, Riyadh)
- Singapore Airlines Cargo (Bangelore, Chennai, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Dubai, Kolkata, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Sharjah, Singapore)
Former airlines
The following airlines used to fly to/from BRU, but discontinued their service (Incomplete list):
- Air Gabon (Libreville, London-Gatwick)
- Air Mauritius (Port Louis)
- Air Wales (Cardiff)
- Air Zaire (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Rome-Fiumicino, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Albanian Airlines (Tirana)
- American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) - American still serves Brussels from New York-JFK and Chicago-O'Hare
- Asiana (Seoul-Incheon, Vienna)
- Avianca (Bogota, Madrid, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Axon Airlines (Athens)
- Cameroon Airlines (Douala)
- China Eastern Airlines (Madrid, Shanghai-Pudong)
- City Bird (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Miami, Newark, Oakland, Orlando)
- Cubana de Aviacion (Havana, Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Dhaka, Delhi, Dubai, New York-JFK)
- BMI
- Delta Air Lines (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky) - Delta still serves Brussels from Atlanta and New York-JFK
- Eastern Airways (Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley)
- Etihad Airways (Toronto-Pearson) - Etihad still serves Brussels from Abu-Dhabi
- Hellas Jet (Athens)
- Helvetic Airways (Zurich)
- Hewa Bora Airways (Kinshasa)
- JetMagic (Cork)
- Khalifa Airways (Algiers, Oran)
- Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises (Kinshasa)
- Lineas Aereas Paraguayas (Asuncion, Dakar, Madrid, Frankfurt)
- Malaysia Airlines (Dubai, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kuala Lumpur)
- Middle East Airlines (Beirut)
- Northwest Airlines (Detroit)
- Olympic Airlines (Thessaloniki) - Olympic still serves Brussels from Athens
- Pan American World Airways (New York-JFK)
- Portugalia (Lisbon, Porto)
- Royal Jordanian Airlines (Amman)
- Sabena (see Sabena article) (updated)
- Scibe Zaire (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi)
- Shabair (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi)
- Singapore Airlines (Manchester, Singapore, Zürich)
- SkyEurope (Budapest, Krakow)
- Slovak Airlines (Bratislava)
- Sobelair (Johannesburg)
- South African Airways (Johannesburg)
- TAP Portugal (Macau) - TAP still serves Brussels from Lisbon and Porto
- Thai Airways International (Bangkok-Don Mueang)
- Tower Air (New York-JFK, Tel Aviv)
- Turkish Airlines (New York-JFK)- Turkish still serves Brussels from Ankara and Istanbul-Atatürk
- TWA (New York-JFK)
- United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, San Francisco) - United still serves Brussels from Washington-Dulles
- VASP (São Paulo-Guarulhos, Recife, Salvador de Bahia)
- VG Airlines (Boston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Yerevan)
- Virgin Express (Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bordeaux, Catania, Copenhagen, Faro, Geneva, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, London-Stansted, Madrid, Malaga, Milan-Bergamo, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Murcia, Naples, Nice, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Rome-Fiumicino, Shannon, Valencia, Zurich)
- Vueling Airlines (Madrid, Malaga)
Defunct airlines
Defunct airlines with a base at Brussels (incomplete list):
See also
References
- ^ Airport information for EBBR at World Aero Data. Source: DAFIF.
- ^ Airport information for BRU at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF.
- ^ "Plane comes off Brussels runway", 25 May 2008.
External links
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