Brussels Airport’s €500 million expansion overlooking environment?

Brussels Airport will invest half a billion euros in infrastructure to accommodate the passenger growth expected in the coming years. The project involves the construction of a new intermodal hub, an expansion of the departure and arrival hall, a new hotel, a new drop-off zone, and a green boulevard with a park.

The investment is the largest at Brussels Airport in the last 30 years. The entire project should be completed by 2032 at the latest. The airport’s federal ombudsman, Philippe Touwaide, is very disappointed because the announcement “does not contain a single environmental objective and not a single penny to reduce noise and pollution.”

Shaping HUB 3.0

By 2032, Brussels Airport expects a 30% increase in passengers, to 32 million. However, according to Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport, the current terminal only has a maximum capacity of 28 to 30 million passengers.

The Sheraton hotel has quietly reached its limits and is almost running at full capacity. Moreover, the vertical axis connecting the departure and arrival halls with public transport is often saturated.

“Based on these determinations, we opted for the new investment plan, Shaping HUB 3.0. Today marks the start of phase 1 of a 10-year plan, so that we can properly welcome more passengers in the future,” says Feist, describing Brussels Airport as a “hub airport in the heart of Europe.”

“Brussels Airport will offer passengers a renewed experience in the departure and arrival hall, with more space and light and a view of operations on the tarmac,” the top executive says.

“In addition, we are also going to improve the interconnectivity between the different modes of transport, such as train, bus, and the future streetcar, and also provide more capacity.” Parking capacity will also be improved.

By 2026, the drop-off zone should be moved to behind the Sheraton hotel. The intermodal hub will then follow in the 2028-2030 period, and by 2030-2032, the terminal, the four-star, 300-room hotel, and the boulevard should be completed.

‘No environmental effort’

According to Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés), Brussels Airport’s investment confirms that the airport “can think ahead without losing sight of sustainability.”

But the federal ombudsman for Brussels Airport, Philippe Touwaide, sees this somewhat differently. Touwaide refers to constructing a noise wall and the covered test train shed for reactors, which have been mandatory since 1988, but have still not been realized.

“I am for a balance between economy, environment, and health,” Touwaide says. “I have nothing against the airport, but a private company cannot want to develop its economic activity in 2025 without some concrete environmental effort. Brussels Airport Company has not contributed to the insulation fund since 2003 and does not want to spend a single euro that does not benefit them, so the noise wall and the covered pilot rail shed are not on their priority list. It is a pity that there is so little consideration for the whole community living around the Brussels Airport area,” judges Touwaide.

The ombudsman also points out that the annual billion in health care financed by the public community because of night flights and air traffic is not included in the externalities of air traffic at Brussels Airport.

Moreover, according to the land sale contract, any construction on the airport site must have exclusively an airport function – there is talk of a new office building of 34,000 m². “Thus, offices of consultants or corporate auditors have no place in the airport facilities,” concludes Touwaide.

Still noise pollution from night flights

The municipality of Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe also denounces the investment plan. The city council speaks of “a disregard for the inhabitants of the Brussels Region and the periphery”. It points out that Brussels Airport Company does not comply with Brussels noise standards.

The airport operator would refuse to invest in measures proposed by the ENVISA study (an environmental impact analysis), such as extending a runway to reduce noise pollution on another runway.

Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe also recalls that the Belgian state was again condemned for excessive noise pollution from night flights early this year. Over six months in 2024, the municipality reportedly recorded 269 flights that exceeded noise standards, especially between 6 and 7 a.m.