The Belgian Nathan De Valck will be the new CEO of Deurne and Oostende airports. So reports the Gazet van Antwerpen. De Valck will start as the top executive there on June 16th. De Valck is currently with the air cargo company Worldwide Flight Services for the airports of Brussels and Liège.
The French company Egis, which operates the two regional airports in Flanders, resigned CEO Bruno De Saegher at the end of November after only a few months.
Old hand in the aviation sector
The previous CEO, Eric Dumas, temporarily took the helm while waiting for a new top executive. That will be Nathan De Valck. He is currently the general manager of cargo handler Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in Belgium.
Previously, De Valck founded Pharma. Aero is a cross-sector cooperation platform for pharmaceutical transport. He also worked for baggage handler Aviapartner and Brussels Airport Company, where he became head of cargo.
Growing criticism
The appointment comes at a time when the role of regional airports in Flanders—besides Deurne and Ostend, there is also Kortrijk—is being strongly questioned. New figures show that cargo and passenger traffic there continues to decline. At the same time, Flemish subsidies continue to rise.
Ostend today handles only 2.9% of Flemish air cargo traffic, accounting for some 18,100 tons in 2024. Deurne and Kortrijk barely process cargo, and passenger figures are not much better.
Kortrijk is stuck at about 9,000 passengers per year. Deurne experienced a sharp drop to 208,000 passengers in 2024, 20% less than the year before. Ostend follows the same trend: passenger numbers dropped to 352,000, down 9% compared to 2023.
Conversely, subsidies increased by a quarter over five years, from 11.4 million euros in 2020 to 14.2 million euros in 2024. Moreover, several action committees have long called for a study of Antwerp Airport’s environmental impact.
