During July and August, around 5 million passengers traveled through Brussels Airport. That is an increase of 3%. In August, the airport welcomed 2,5 million passengers, the same as in July. The number of arriving passengers was particularly high, 200,000 more than departing passengers. Due to the large number of local passengers, the share of transfer passengers fell by around 15%.
Cargo volumes also grew by almost 3% to 58,000 tons. The ten most visited countries were Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Almost back to pre-COVID levels
With a total of five million passengers, the airport, which serves a network of 180 destinations, is once again approaching the record of 5,3 million set in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, there were an average of 152 passengers per flight, one more than in August 2024.
The number of flight movements also increased by 2%, thanks to an equal increase in passenger flights.
With average emissions of 150 kg CO2 per passenger, calculated for a short/medium haul flight, this amounts to emissions of 750,000 tons of CO2. This is equivalent to approximately 53,000 soccer fields with a 1-meter-thick layer of CO2 gas.
Fewer cargo flights, but more freight volumes
The number of cargo flights fell by 1%. Total freight volumes rose by 3%, with 57,994 tons of freight transported. Air freight volumes rose by 13% to a total of 53,606 tons. On the other hand, there was a 5% decline in the whole cargo segment.
Freight transport on board passenger flights remained stable in comparison. Express services saw an increase of 38%, with trucked volumes declining by 51,5%.
The central import regions were Asia, Africa, and North America. We see the same top three in the central export regions.
Renovated runway
Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company, also emphasizes that “the work on runway 25L/07R was completed on time and without any impact on our passengers.”
Runway 25L/07R is the main runway for landings at Brussels Airport: approximately half of all landings take place there. The entire runway was resurfaced to a depth of 20 centimeters. A total of 290,000 m² was covered- more than 40 soccer fields. All the beacons and lighting were also renewed with 1,500 new lights.
