Nine new destinations from Brussels Airport

From March 31st, the start of the summer season, Brussels Airport will offer nine new destinations. Six new airlines will also make their appearance. More importantly, by Friday, a decision on the new environmental permit for the airport is expected.

Brussels Airport and residents will then know whether the annual number of flight movements will be reduced and whether stricter noise standards will be introduced, possibly leading to the disappearance of night flights.

Daily flight to Shanghai

From now on, travelers will also be able to fly from Brussels to Singapore, Shanghai (China), Nairobi (Kenya), Bergen (Norway), Krakow (Poland), Bari (Italy), Bacău (Romania), Gazipaşa (Turkey), and Brive (France).

The airport also welcomes six new airlines: Singapore Airlines, Juneau Airlines, Cyprus Airways, Wider, Amelia, and Wizz Air. Singapore Airlines will fly to Singapore from April 6th, while Juneau Airlines will serve Shanghai from July. Thus, there will be a daily flight to the Chinese metropolis with Hainan Airlines flights.

178 direct destinations

In addition, Cyprus Airways (Larnaca), Wideroe (Bergen), Amelia (Brive), and Wizz Air (Budapest) will also strengthen Brussels Airport’s network as of this summer.

Furthermore, United Airlines is launching a second daily flight to Newark, while Air Canada will again fly to Toronto four times a week, and Air Transit is inserting a fourth weekly flight to Montreal. Finally, the offer to Morocco is being expanded by Air Arabia, which will now also serve Tétouan and Rabat.

As of March 31st, 64 airlines will fly from Brussels Airport, offering 178 direct destinations. Brussels Airlines serves 88 destinations this summer, including 18 in sub-Saharan Africa and two new ones, Nairobi and Krakow.

Brussels Airlines will then fly a tenth A330-300 and three new A320neo aircraft. Transavia will station a third aircraft (B737-800).

End of night flights?

By Friday, the Flemish government should also decide on the new environmental permit for Brussels Airport. In the “conditionally favorable” opinion of the regional Environmental Permit Commission (GOVC), which press agency Belga was able to consult, it is stated that the number of flight movements must be capped at a maximum of 234,000 as of 2030 (compared to 192,000 in 2023) and that the quiet weekend nights must be tightened.

As of 2026, no departures and landings will be allowed between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the nights of Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday, and Sunday to Monday. By 2030, that will be from 11 p.m. to 7 p.m., and flights may not exceed 60 decibels, a standard stricter than that of the Brussels region. Some exceptions are planned.

For your information, the noise level of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800 type aircraft, which are widely used in the medium category worldwide, is around 93-94 decibels.

‘Onerous conditions’

In a response, Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) has already clarified that the opinion suggests some onerous conditions that limit operation. Demir will work with it to “find a balance between prosperity and impact on the environment”.

Some workers’ organizations and unions have also responded. Those fear a social bloodbath. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) has also urged the Flemish government to work out a solution for the new environmental permit for Brussels Airport.

He called the final opinion “very far-reaching” and “formulated with operating restrictions that would make a further growth path of Brussels Airlines impossible and even complicate current operations”.

Again, the environmental movement Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL) considers the measures “grossly inadequate.” BBL also claims that limiting the number of flights at Brussels Airport could even increase employment in the long term, based on a recent study by the research agency Transport & Mobility Leuven.