After the Christmas holiday 2020 without flights from Antwerp, TUI fly Belgium is relatively satisfied with the number of passengers departing from Antwerp during this Christmas holiday. The backlog compared to the last pre-corona Christmas of 2019 is mainly due to the fact that a series of destinations cannot be flown this year. Flights to the 3 classic Spanish destinations have a 90% occupancy rate, proof of a positive evolution since the flights restarted on April 20, 2021, when the ban on non-essential travel came to an end.
The main destination remains Alicante, the airport is a 1-hour drive from the popular resort of Benidorm. More than half of the travellers from Antwerp depart for this destination. In second place comes Malaga airport, with direct access to the Costa del Sol, and finally Murcia, close to the seaside resort of Torrevieja where many Belgians have a country house. All departures during the first week of the Christmas holidays are fully booked. There are still places available for the weekend of January 1.
Morocco has only been restarted by TUI fly since October after an internal evaluation of the sanitary situation and the possibility of a pleasant holiday experience on-site. Due to the recent closure of Moroccan airspace by the government, TUI fly was forced to cancel the flights to Tangier and Nador.
The route to Innsbruck, the gateway to the Austrian ski areas and particularly popular during previous winters for short skiing holidays, cannot continue this Christmas holiday. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the restrictions imposed by Austria in recent weeks and the risk of an extension of the lockdown earlier this month, TUI fly decided to cancel this destination before the Christmas holidays.
The flights from Antwerp are an exclusive offer of TUI fly Belgium and have been very successful since the start in 2015 because of the easy accessibility and the small scale of the airport. TUI is counting on a continuation of the positive trend in travel and firmly believes that Antwerp will be able to reach its passenger numbers of 2019 again next year.
