Brussels Airport is experiencing a shortage of parking spaces due to the combination of two holiday periods, in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Belgium’s Dutch neighbours are starting a long extended weekend this Thursday with their King’s Day and May 1st bank holiday. The Spring school holidays also start next week in the Netherlands, as do those for French speakers in Belgium. Following the saturation and flight restrictions imposed on Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, more and more Dutch travellers are flying from Brussels Airport, which expects to welcome one million Dutch people this year, most of them travelling by car to the Belgian airport.
The situation will be even worse next week with the start of vacation for French-speaking students. Even the distant Brucargo car parks are full. The airport has opened an additional parking area P58 with 700 spaces usually allocated to airport staff. The airport also advises travellers to arrive 30 minutes earlier than planned and encourages them to go to the airport other than by car. Brussels Airport is easily accessible by train or bus.
The situation is expected to improve in the week of May 8.
For the summer holidays, the airport expects fewer parking problems as they will mainly serve Belgian travellers. The airport aims to have 32 million passengers by 2032 but has not yet addressed parking concerns in its environmental impact report.