Photo Special: Brussels Airport Spotters Day 2016

On Monday 29 August 2016, Brussels Airport organized the second edition of the Brussels Airport Spotters Day.

Between 4pm-8pm, 25 lucky winners of a contest were invited to be taken airside for stunning views of the airside activities.

At 4pm, all participants gathered in the departure hall and received a warm welcome by staff members of Brussels Airport. After the necessary registration, each participant received a visitors badge, a fluo jacked and (if needed) some earplugs.

Few moments later, we were kindly invited to go airside via the Connector, one of Brussels Airport’s newest buildings, connecting the departure hall with Pier A. Every participant needed to go through security and was screened very thoroughly.

Once everybody was airside, the participants were invited to visit ‘Stand & Gate Allocation’, an operational business unit that allocates and manages all the stands and gates at Brussels Airport. Stand & Gate Allocation even has its own control tower, offering unique views of the airside activities at the airport.

After this unique visit, everybody proceeded further through the Connector.  We proceeded to one of the remote gates in Pier A, where a bus was waiting to take the participants to the first of two airside locations for some serious aircraft photography.

The first photography spot  was located south of Pier B and offered very good views of aircraft landing on RWY 25L and taxiing to their stands. This spot  was also very close to an Ethiopian Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was parked at a remote location before flying to Paris and Addis Ababa later that day. Spotters were invited to visit the Dreamliner very briefly, before the aircraft was towed to its assigned gate.

Around 6pm, everybody boarded the bus again, which took us to the second and final photography spot of the day, located at the northeastern side of the airport, close to the intersection of TWY INN-6 and INN-7, offering amazing views of departing traffic.

Shortly after 8pm (after the Ethiopian Boeing 787 Dreamliner had departed), all participants were asked to gather in front of the bus. Brussels Airport offered a goodie bag and thanked everybody for participating. A great way to end a fascinating experience.

29 August 2016

Photos: copyright © Ivan Coninx