Friday 29 July will be a record day for Brussels Airport. The airport is expecting over 90,000 passengers. Never before has Brussels Airport welcomed so many passengers on one day. The next few days will be a major transition weekend, with lots of passengers departing and returning.
Brussels Airport will be welcoming over 90,000 passengers on Friday 29 July. Almost half of them are setting off on holiday (44,000 passengers), whilst the other half are returning from holiday. And so, the weekend of 29 to 31 July will be a major transition weekend at the airport and, up to now, is the busiest weekend ever for Brussels Airport. In just three days from now, some 253,000 passengers will be coming to Brussels Airport.
Although it will be a busy weekend, passengers don’t need to come to the airport extra early. Those who come to the airport two hours before their flight are always well in time. Since the start of the holiday, Brussels Airport has measured average turnover times, and it has emerged from those checks that passengers on average take one hour to get from the Brussels Ring Road for the check point on the A201 to their gate, including passport control, whilst during busy periods in the mornings this figure is one hour and 15 minutes.
Passengers at Brussels Airport opt mainly for a destination in the sun. Spain, with the Canary Islands, is still the top destination for Belgians, whilst over 17% of all passengers at Brussels Airport opt for the Spanish sun. Furthermore, other Southern European destinations are also extremely popular this year, namely Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Southern France.
This year, lots of Belgians have opted for a holiday with an even more exotic destination. About 13% of all passengers at Brussels Airport are travelling directly to a destination outside Europe. The most popular destinations are North America, followed closely by Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and, finally, Latin America.
What has been remarkable this year is the great success of last minute bookings. In the spring, some holiday destinations proved less popular than expected. However, the wet start to the summer triggered a boost in the sale of last minute holidays, often not until a few days before the flight.
Brussels Airport, 28 July 2016
