July 01, 2025
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn is becoming greener without having to do anything about it. As of today, the private bus operators that provide rides on behalf of De Lijn are deploying 588 new electric buses on De Lijn’s network. According to the Federation of Belgian Bus and Coach Operators (FBAA), this is “the […]
June 30, 2025
The pedestrian zone in the center of Brussels, between Place Fontainas and Boulevard Adolphe Max, has been in place for ten years since Sunday. The zone has since become one of the busiest in the capital, but it has also been criticized for being too focused on tourists and events, rather than on residents. Additionally, […]
June 30, 2025
The Board of Directors of the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB has postponed its decision on designating Spanish CAF as the preferred bidder for a billion-euro order for new railcars. NMBS/SNCB’s decision drew considerable political criticism, and CAF competitors Alstom and Siemens also appealed to the Council of State. In a reaction, NMBS/SNCB refers to […]
June 27, 2025
The increase in the flight tax that the De Wever government wants to introduce will cost Brussels Airlines 1 million euros. So, write the business newspapers L’Echo and De Tijd. Indeed, it turns out that the increase also applies to tickets that were already purchased before the introduction of the new law, usually on July […]
June 26, 2025
Walloon industrial group John Cockerill has completed a 166 million euros capital increase. With that much-needed money, it intends to pursue its strategic development plan around hydrogen, and thus the production of its electrolyzers. Among others, the semi-public investment company SFPIM and gas grid operator Fluxys are stepping into the project. John Cockerill Hydrogen had […]
June 25, 2025
Hype, the Paris-based company that, no pun intended, created hype with the news that it was offering hydrogen cabs in the Île-de-France region, is pulling out of the hydrogen market. “Gray hydrogen and its alibi of blue hydrogen have won this round in Île-de-France,” says an embittered Hype in a LinkedIn post, pointing an accusing […]
June 25, 2025
Although the average CO2 emissions per passenger per km are on average up to 10 times higher for a private jet flight compared to a regular scheduled flight, the demand for private flights in Belgium is five times higher than in the rest of Europe. According to the business newspaper L’Echo, which bases its figures […]
June 24, 2025
Since Monday, June 23rd, the Flemish public transport company De Lijn has officially put its first electric buses, manufactured by the Chinese company BYD, into service. These are the first of 92 e-buses ordered. At Jacob Autocars, which is part of Hansea, one of the largest private bus companies in Belgium that also provides transport […]
June 23, 2025
Empty batteries from Nissan EVs’ Leaf will provide power for some 90,000 residents in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco. The Japanese automaker is teaming up with European energy company Enel for the groundbreaking project. The project was already announced two years ago, but is now being finally launched. It fits into Nissan’s ‘Ambition […]
June 23, 2025
Brussels Airlines expects nearly 2 million passengers in July and August, the airline reports. That’s 600,000 more than a year earlier. To cope with this influx of passengers, the Lufthansa subsidiary will deploy a fleet of 50 aircraft, or six more than last year. Among other things, Brussels Airlines is adding an extra Airbus 320 […]
June 20, 2025
More than 52,000 new leased bicycles were added in Belgium last year. That’s according to a market analysis by mobility federation Traxio. It makes 2024 an absolute record year. There are currently 166,796 leased bikes on the road in Belgium. Almost two-thirds of bikes are electric. Especially Flanders scores well Almost 10% of all bikes […]
June 19, 2025
Steel giant Arcelor Mittal is considering closing its innovative Steelanol plant in Ghent, a prestigious showpiece for the company’s decarbonization strategy. The plant, which converts CO2 from blast furnace gases into ethanol, is struggling with strict and unfavorable European regulations, threatening to make the project financially unsustainable. The Steelanol plant captures residual gases from the […]
June 19, 2025
The Belgian socialist transport trade union BTB-ABVV is launching a multilingual hotline for truckers. They can go there in 21 languages to ask questions about their rights or to report abuse or malpractice. “Every driver deserves a correct wage, dignified working conditions, and access to help, regardless of nationality or employer,” BTB-ABVV states. “The hotline […]
June 18, 2025
Two years after the European consumer organization BEUC filed a complaint, airlines are still engaging in greenwashing, or using misleading environmental claims, according to Testaankoop/Test Achats and its European umbrella organization, BEUC. While the situation has “slightly improved,” greenwashing remains the norm in the airline industry, according to the consumer organizations. Still a widespread practice […]
June 18, 2025
The much-needed capital injection of 80 to 100 million euros that John Cockerill in Seraing is looking forward to to save its hydrogen division appears to be on the way. So reports the business newspaper L’Echo. In the past, John Cockerill Hydrogen already raised 230 million euros from various investors, but that money quickly ran […]
June 17, 2025
The Belgian government is allocating over 76 million euros from the European Recovery Fund to rail. With just under 70 million euros, railroad network operator Infrabel will get the lion’s share of the envelope. Among other things, the money will be used for the electrification of the network, while stations will also be upgraded with […]
June 17, 2025
According to CEO Brieuc de Meeûs, the Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB will launch a tender next week to order 300 new all-electric buses. This is stated in several media outlets, including Le Soir and Bruzz. The plan is to deploy the new buses in 2028 and 2029. Some 450 fully electric MIVB/STIB buses are […]
June 16, 2025
Flanders will become the new largest shareholder of Brussels Airport. Through its investment company PMV, it will invest 2,77 billion euros in the airport located in Flemish Zaventem, acquiring a 39% stake in the airport operator. “We want to be in the cockpit when it comes to the future of our airport. If we don’t […]
June 13, 2025
More than 80% of Lufthansa’s flights arrived on time at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs this year. It provides the best punctuality figures in ten years for the German national airline. Yet, Lufthansa still faces several challenges to ensure punctuality. An increasing number of drone sightings and storms hamper operations, while a lack of technical […]
June 13, 2025
After a year of dragging its feet on greening its fleet, the Flemish public transport company now seems to be reaching full cruising speed in terms of curbing its CO2. On top of the 230 new buses currently being delivered, De Lijn is ordering another 290 electric buses. This investment of 185 million euros aligns […]
June 12, 2025
The Walloon public transport company TEC carried out 155.4 million rides last year, 146.4 million of which were in scheduled services. That’s an increase of 4 million or 2,78% over 2023. Interestingly, no figures are yet available on the number of travelers in 2024; for 2023, it reported 151.6 million travelers. But it does state […]
June 12, 2025
Cab app Uber is now also offering its services in several Belgian coastal cities. “With this launch, the Uber app is available in all major coastal cities, just in time for the summer season,” the American company said in a press release. “By offering more accessible and reliable ride options, we aim to reduce parking […]
June 11, 2025
The European Federation of Bicycle Associations has named the Belgian railroad company NMBS/SNCB, along with the Swiss railroad company SBB, as the continent’s most bicycle-friendly rail companies. However, the Cyclists’ Union continues to find accessibility problematic, a point that is also apparent when examining the state of Flemish stations from the perspective of a person […]
June 10, 2025
Eurostar plans to run direct trains from London to Frankfurt and Geneva starting in 2030. Both train journeys would take some five hours. The high-speed train operator also plans to invest heavily in its fleet. The rail company will invest some 2 billion euros to boost the number of trains by 30%. Pushed by competition […]
June 10, 2025
The Antwerp hospital umbrella ‘Hospitaal aan de Stroom’ (ZAS) receives an emergency patient every eight hours due to an accident involving an e-scooter. In half of the cases, this led to an inability to work. Emergency doctors as well as the clinic and the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Studies (VSV) are asking the government to […]
June 06, 2025
European transport ministers propose that air passengers will now be entitled to compensation only for flight delays of four hours or more. European legislation currently provides for compensation of three hours or more of delay if the airline is at fault. However, the proposal still requires approval from the European Parliament and the European Council. […]
June 06, 2025
Flemish public transport company De Lijn had to cancel 244,000 journeys last year. Once again, these are unflattering figures for De Lijn, which also received a lot of criticism last year during the rollout of its new plan for basic accessibility. According to MP Amina Vandenheuvel (PVDA), who requested the figures from Flemish Minister of […]
June 05, 2025
On Limburg municipal roads where average speed checks were introduced, the number of traffic accidents fell by an average of 38% compared to the number of accidents on comparable roads without section controls. This emerges from an analysis by UHasselt researchers reported by the newspaper Het Belang van Limburg, among others. According to the researchers, […]
June 05, 2025
The European Commission is calling on the Belgian government to thoroughly cut subsidies for fossil fuels. It states this in its annual socio-economic recommendations to Belgium. The Commission also regrets that there are no plans to phase out the subsidies before 2030. Such a measure could both boost the greening of transportation and buildings, as […]
June 04, 2025
As in Flanders and Brussels, Wallonia now also has a network of counting points to monitor the number of cyclists. On the website cyclable.wallonie.be, the 159 counting points for both cyclists and pedestrians can be consulted. With this initiative, the region aims to refine its cycling policy, says Walloon Mobility Minister François Desquesnes (Les Engagés). […]
June 04, 2025
From August, you can no longer go to a bpost post office or post point in Belgium to cancel a license plate. From then on, the license plate must be sent to the Vehicle Registration Service (DIV) or handed in in Brussels. Bpost “takes note” of the decision of the FPS Mobility. It also specifies […]
June 03, 2025
Airlines have become slightly less optimistic about 2025. They now expect to carry just under five billion passengers, down from an earlier forecast of 5.22 billion, and generate $979 billion in revenue instead of the previously projected $1,000 billion. This update was shared by IATA, the global airline industry association, during its annual general meeting […]
June 03, 2025
Brussels Mobility is launching a pilot project in Forest to test a dedicated “Kiss & Cycle” zone for parents dropping their children off at school using cargo bikes, long tails, trailer bikes, or other exceptionally large bicycles. The special strip aims to reduce the chaos often seen on sidewalks and streets during school drop-off times, […]
June 02, 2025
The first tunnel element for the new Scheldt Tunnel, which left Zeebrugge on Friday, arrived on Sunday in the port of Antwerp. The 160-meter-long, 42-meter-wide, and 60,000-ton colossus made a journey of more than 100 kilometers across the North Sea and the Scheldt, floated by four tugs and a pusher. It now remains “parked” in […]
June 02, 2025
The airline industry’s ambition to move to zero emissions by 2050 is in jeopardy. This was stated by IATA, the global airline umbrella organization, at a summit in New Delhi, India, to discuss the state of the industry. The aviation sector currently produces approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions; however, due to climate-skeptic policies, including […]
May 29, 2025
Almost five years after the introduction of the general 30 kph zone in the Brussels Capital Region, it is abundantly clear that the introduction of that plan was a good idea. According to Brussels Mobility, there are fewer serious accidents and fatalities, and the introduction of Zone 30 also does not lead to longer travel […]
May 27, 2025
After the US, France now also has the necessary equipment to conduct fire resistance tests on aircraft engines. So reports the French business newspaper Le Figaro. The platform for aircraft engine fire research will be located at the French National Center for Aerospace Research (ONERA), 15 km south of Toulouse. The center, founded in 1968, […]
May 27, 2025
The Dutch railroad company NS is going to remove first class in about half of all Sprinter trains to create additional second-class seats. A total of 3,580 additional second-class seats would be involved. According to NS, first class in the sprinter, a train for short travel distances used for stopping services, is only about 10% […]
May 26, 2025
Greenhouse gas emissions in Flanders have fallen to their lowest point this century. So reports Statistics Flanders, based on figures from the Flemish Environment Agency for 2023. Emissions, still accounting for 65,4 megatons (Mton) of greenhouse gas CO2 equivalents, were notably lower than in the COVID-19 year 2020. Decrease of 3,5 Mton CO2 In 2023, […]
May 26, 2025
As of yesterday, the British South Western Railway (SWR), which serves more than 200 stations in southern England, is once again in government hands. It is, in fact, the first train company to be nationalized under Labour. The Starmer government called the renationalization of British Rail, which was privatized in 1990, a “new era for […]
May 25, 2025
The bicycle continues gaining popularity in Flanders: 18,5% of Flemish travel by (electric) bicycle. In other words, never has there been so much cycling in Flanders. This is according to the Flemish government’s seventh study on travel behavior in Flanders. By comparison, in the Netherlands, 27% of journeys are made by bicycle. Still, the car […]
May 23, 2025
The Walloon public transport company TEC has put the first full electric bus into service. This happened in Liège. The bus in question is a Mercedes-Benz Citaro. The ambition is to be fully electric by 2045. “With this first 100% e-bus, TEC opens a new chapter in its history: that of a cleaner, quieter and […]
May 22, 2025
Last year, 16,403 fines were issued in the Brussels region for motorists who entered the low-emission zone (LEZ) with an overly polluting car. That’s almost a halving from the record year of 2023, when 29,643 drivers were fined. Meanwhile, several citizens’ associations have started proceedings at the Constitutional Court to annul the two-year postponement of […]
May 21, 2025
Three years after the introduction of stricter rules for e-scooters, many Belgians still do not know the most important rules. This emerges from a new representative survey by the traffic institute Vias. For example, 44% of those surveyed do not know that you must be at least 16 years old to drive an e-scooter. The […]
May 20, 2025
Ryanair’s net profit is down 16% compared to last year, to 1,6 billion euros. That’s according to figures for the fiscal year that ended at the end of March. The Irish low-cost carriers had to cut their prices by 7% to fill up planes. That strategy led to a record number of just over 200 […]
May 20, 2025
Since yesterday, the Volta 1, the first electric tug in Europe, has been sailing in the Antwerp port area. With the commissioning of Volta 1, the port is taking another step towards greening. In the long term, the port wants no tugboats to run on diesel fuel anymore because diesel still causes a lot of […]
May 19, 2025
Airline ticket prices have risen sharply over the past few years, and the trend is not over yet. According to the Belgian statistics bureau Statbel, the average cost of tickets rose by 11,1% in April. That makes you pay as much as 71% more for a plane ticket today than you did 20 years ago, […]
May 19, 2025
The number of fare dodgers at the Belgian public transport company NMBS/SNCB is rising. Last year, nearly 700,000 passengers without tickets were caught red-handed at the railroad company. Sudinfo newspapers have reported the news. This is a remarkable 40% increase compared to 2023, some 200,000 more than two years ago. Impact of tens of millions […]
May 16, 2025
French Bus company BlaBlaCar now offers train tickets on its website and app in addition to its bus and carpool offers. The service is in direct competition with SNCF Connect, the official booking platform of French railroads SNCF, and Trainline, an independent, commercial ticket seller offering tickets from multiple rail companies in Europe, including SNCF. […]
May 15, 2025
Smart energy tariffs are becoming increasingly popular for their flexibility and potential to save costs. Smappee, an award-winning tech company from Kortrijk, is also capitalizing on that market trend by launching a virtual battery. In this service, solar panel owners can stockpile their unused power as a credit that allows them to charge their EV […]
May 14, 2025
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 […]
May 14, 2025
From January 2028, the Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB will no longer conduct statutory recruitments. This is stated in the preliminary agreement that the railroad unions ACOD Spoor, ACV-Transcom, and VSOA Spoor reached with Minister of Mobility Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés). From now on, new employees will be recruited by contract, which will eventually lead […]
May 13, 2025
Motability Operations, the UK’s largest car leasing company, has presented a wheelchair-accessible electric demonstration vehicle to encourage manufacturers to ensure that wheelchair users are also included in the transition to EVs. Plans to market such an electric wheelchair-accessible vehicle (eWAV) are not yet concrete. But in cooperation with South Korean auto giant Kia, Motability Operations […]
May 12, 2025
IAG, the group behind British Airways and Iberia, is expanding its fleet with 71 new aircraft. The orders are neatly divided between Boeing, an American manufacturer, and its European rival, Airbus. The order involves more than 20 billion dollars. The planes would be delivered between 2028 and 2033. IAD did not release how much specifically […]
May 09, 2025
Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) wants the public transport company De Lijn to work out a new framework agreement for a planned order of some 30 streetcars for Antwerp. The order is with Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). The price would suddenly be 1.5 times higher, and the […]
May 08, 2025
Belgian railroad network manager Infrabel is conducting tests using liquid nitrogen and electricity, among other things, to control weeds in and along the tracks. It does so with its Dutch counterpart, ProRail, and the international railroad organization UIC. Both rail network managers are looking for new methods to control weeds on the tracks, although the […]
May 08, 2025
Media House newspapers report that Flemish public transport operator De Lijn received a whopping 87,000 complaints last year, 24,000 more than in 2023. This is the most significant number of complaints De Lijn has ever received in one year. The record number of complaints is mainly due to the new transport plan Hoppin, which the […]
May 07, 2025
Last year, the Dutch flew 100 billion km, or 2.5 million times around the world. This was calculated by the Knowledge Institute for Mobility Policy (KiM). It’s as many kilometers as the Dutch drive by car annually, but with the difference that half of all the kilometers flown are traveled by 9% of the Dutch […]
May 06, 2025
Aviation’s future is at risk if it does not undergo a fundamental transition, says ‘Call Aviation to Action,’ a group of more than 50 aviation executives urging the sector to become more sustainable. The Dutch initiative, which includes various people, including directors, pilots, and technicians, believes that aviation cannot possibly continue on its current course […]
May 05, 2025
Belgium will not be able to submit its National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP) to the European Commission on May 12th, even though the Commission’s new deadline expires then. According to the cabinet of federal Climate Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés), the delay is due to Flanders. Belgium is now committed to submitting the plan […]
