688,336 Passengers used Charleroi in April 2017 (-1%, but in 2016 Charleroi welcomes Brussels passengers after attacks))

688,336 passengers travelled through Brussels South Charleroi Airport in April. These figures bring total passenger numbers for the first four months of 2017 to 2,211,985, reflecting the excellent load factor of close to 91% for April this year. The numbers were, however, slightly down on the 2016 figure of 694,946 passengers, i.e. a drop of 1%.

688,336 passengers chose Brussels South Charleroi Airport in April 2017, bringing total passenger numbers for the first four months of the year to 2,211,985. Compared with 2016, this amounts to a drop of 1% both for April and for the first four months as whole. 2,227,297 passengers used the airport between January and April 2016, with 694.946 passengers travelling through Charleroi in April. This decrease is attributable solely to the higher number of flights handled by Charleroi in April 2016, following the events at Brussels-Zaventem airport.

In order to draw a meaningful comparison, therefore, it is appropriate to compare the 2017 figures with those for 2015. By comparison with April 2015, BSCA recorded a 10% increase in passenger numbers, up from 623,901. The total for the first four months of 2015 was 1,973,380 people travelling through BSCA, i.e. an increase of 12% for this year (2017). Comparing two years of normal operations, therefore, Brussels South Charleroi Airport recorded an increase in passenger numbers in 2017.

As far as destinations were concerned, Spain overtook Italy in April 2017 to head the list of the most popular countries for flights to and from BSCA. Italy was, therefore, in second place, followed by France, Morocco and Poland.

Welcoming these results on behalf of the management team, Jean-Jacques CLOQUET, CEO of Brussels South Charleroi Airport, said:

We had an excellent month in April. Obviously, it makes little sense to compare April 2017 with the same month last year, given the tragic attacks in our country on 22 March 2016. Nevertheless, despite the thousands of additional passengers handled, numbers were only marginally down by 1% and comparison with 2015 shows that growth is well and truly on track at Charleroi. Aircraft take off and land at almost maximum capacity and OAG has once again voted BSCA one of the world’s leading airports in terms of punctuality. Our operational strength remains one of our key assets which has attracted two new airlines this year, namely Air Corsica (operating since 26 March 2017) and Belavia (operating since 27 April 2017). The latter is our first national carrier, offering business and economy seats at attractive prices and opening the door to destinations not yet served from Charleroi, such as Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, etc. via its Minsk hub.

Charleroi, 10 May 2017