July 02, 2024
Belgian Dieter Vranckx, who was previously CEO of Brussels Airlines, has again been appointed chairman of the board of SN Airholding, the holding company wholly owned by German airline group Lufthansa. He succeeds Christina Foerster in the position. The German, also a former airline CEO, is leaving Lufthansa. Dieter Vranckx (51) already has a long […]
July 02, 2024
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn has served the first of the new e-buses from supplier VDL from its depot in Destelbergen, East Flanders. These are the first five of 24 e-buses from VDL to reinforce the electric fleet in the Ghent region. In the coming weeks and months, the Destelbergen depot will receive […]
July 01, 2024
German airline Lufthansa suffers from delays in aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus. According to CEO Carsten Spohr, the problems will not be solved before 2030, and the shortfall could cost Lufthansa around half a billion euros a year. The airline, which wants to modernize its fleet, has ordered 250 new aircraft from Airbus and […]
July 01, 2024
The high-speed train, or TGV, between Brussels and France, will not run at its normal speed between 12 and 29 August. During that period, the HST will run on the conventional track up to the French border, which means the train will travel longer. Railway network operator Infrabel announced the renovation works on Belgium’s oldest […]
June 28, 2024
Belgian public transport operator NMBS/SNCB invests between 30 and 40 million euros a year in a facelift for its smaller stations until 2032. This will include investments in accessibility and signaling and an expansion of bicycle and car parking facilities. NMBS/SNCB has 555 stations, including 20 large ones, 80 medium ones, and 455 smaller ones. […]
June 27, 2024
According to the business newspaper De Tijd, Chinese electric truck builder Windrose is to establish its European headquarters and first workshop in Zele. Zele is considered the gateway for constructing an assembly plant for e-trucks in Antwerp port, potentially creating 3,000 jobs. An “operational base” consisting of an office and a workshop will be set […]
June 27, 2024
The Liège-Maastricht-Aachen ‘three-country train’ was inaugurated in Liège on Wednesday. The train connects Liège-Guillemins with Dutch Maastricht and German Aachen. The connection will be open to the public from June 30. The new direct train is the result of a collaboration between Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB, Dutch transport company Arriva, and Dutch public railway […]
June 27, 2024
The Belgian federal authorities will only buy or lease electric service vehicles from July 2024. The Council of Ministers approved a plan by Minister of Civil Service Petra De Sutter (Groen) in March last year, which is now in effect. One consequence of the measure is that by 2030, most service vehicles within the federal […]
June 26, 2024
According to Statbel, the Belgian statistics office, 501 people lost their lives in accidents on Belgian roads in 2023. Accident figures also decreased again last year after increasing in 2021 and 2022. Also striking: the number of accidents fell more sharply in Brussels than in the rest of the country. Last year, there were 36,855 […]
June 26, 2024
German airline group Lufthansa, to which Brussels Airlines also belongs, is launching an environmental surcharge of 1 to 72 euros for all flights departing from Europe and the UK, Norway, and Switzerland. For Brussels Airlines, the surcharge will be a maximum of 36 euros per flight. The surcharge will be charged on bookings starting today […]
June 25, 2024
VIL, the point of contact for the Flemish logistics sector, and WaterStofNet have installed the first mobile hydrogen refueling station at Brussels Airport. At the same time, DHL is testing the first hydrogen prototype for ground handling operations, a Mulag tractor with an integrated hydrogen fuel cell system. This is a first for the airport. […]
June 25, 2024
Mobility organization Touring is calling on the new Brussels government, which has yet to be formed, to include in its policy plan the tightening of the low-emission zone (LEZ) on its territory, which usually takes effect in January 2025. Touring is thus calling for a relaxation of the LEZ. According to the organization, if the […]
June 24, 2024
Belgian high-voltage operator Elia is calling on the market to be vigilant this summer. There is a chance that Belgium will produce too much power because all available nuclear power plants are running, and especially because a lot of solar panels have been added this year. This threatens to put pressure on the electricity system. […]
June 21, 2024
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn’s flex transport, vans on demand, is not operating efficiently. That’s according to the business newspaper De Tijd, based on figures the newspaper requested from De Lijn. According to the newspaper, 56% of all kilometers traveled have only the driver on board. In other words, minibusses drive around without passengers […]
June 20, 2024
80% of the world’s population is increasingly concerned about the devastating effects of climate change and wants more action on climate. This is according to a major survey, the biggest ever standalone public opinion survey on climate change, by the UN development agency UNDP and Oxford University. The call is especially strongest in the poorest […]
June 19, 2024
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has acknowledged the seriousness of the situation in a US Senate hearing on the quality of Boeing production and apologized for the grief that Boeing has caused. At the same time, he added that progress has since been made. Behind the top man were relatives of people killed in Boeing aircraft […]
June 18, 2024
Infrabel has pushed a new bicycle and pedestrian tunnel under the Leuven-Aarschot-Hasselt railway line in Langdorp. Final work on the tunnel still needs to be finished, but cyclists and pedestrians will be able to use it by the end of this year. This weekend, the tunnel was moved into place using a unique sliding system, […]
June 17, 2024
The SNCF will increase the supply of seats on the TGV or HST by 15% in France and 10% internationally over the next ten years. Thanks to an increase in Ouigo’s low-cost trains, the expansion of that offer is possible. The SNCF in France is under strong pressure because different companies will launch regional high-speed […]
June 17, 2024
The first new electric buses ordered by Brussels public transport operator MIVB/STIB from German manufacturer Daimler Buses will be in service from July. This is reported by the newspapers La Capital and Le Soir. A total of 106 e-buses are involved. With this order, MIVB/STIB intends to replace its diesel models under the Euro-5 and […]
June 14, 2024
Petrochemical analysis samples can now be transported by drone from the Antwerp port area to a laboratory. The innovative project by SGS, German chemical giant BASF, and ADLC was launched to make port operations more efficient and reduce the environmental impact of transporting analysis samples. According to SGS, a Swiss multinational specializing in inspections and […]
June 14, 2024
The Walloon public transport company TEC transported more than 150 million passengers last year. As far as passenger numbers are concerned, they are back to the level before the COVID-19 health crisis. At the same time, TEC’s turnover increased by 22% compared to 2022, to 122 million euros. In doing so, it surpassed 2019 for […]
June 13, 2024
With the stalemate between the liberal MR party and Groen, the two big winners in the French and Dutch language groups in Brussels of the national elections, it looks like the Good Move mobility plan will become the topic of the municipal elections in October. MR president Georges-Louis Bouchez is determined that Good Move must […]
June 12, 2024
Flibco.com, a provider of transport services to airports in Belgium, is launching an international shuttle line between Maastricht and Charleroi Airport via Liège from 4 July. The bus company reckons the journey time will be around two hours for the 127 km separating the Dutch city from the Walloon one. Flibco.com promises ten daily departures […]
June 12, 2024
At Brussels Airport, the new building of Safran Aircraft Engine Services, a French aircraft engine maintenance company, has been officially inaugurated. The building, which cost 24 million euros to build, measures 8,500 m² and is carbon-neutral thanks to its use of 100% renewable energy. By 2027, the site will employ 220 new workers. The new […]
June 11, 2024
According to Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), air pollution can be linked to about 135 million premature deaths between 1980 and 2020. This is according to a study published in the journal Environment International. These deaths would be caused by airborne PM2.5, particulate matter from vehicles, industrial emissions, and natural sources such as fires or […]
June 10, 2024
According to a new study by Vias Institute, failure to correctly give the right of way is involved in one in three serious cycling accidents in Flanders. Responsibility for the accident lies as often with the cyclist as with the other road user. And two-thirds of accidents are largely due to human error. Still, according […]
June 06, 2024
France’s national rail operator, SNCF, is going to get an extra competitor. Backed by an investment fund, the new company Proxima plans to acquire 12 high-speed trains by the decade’s end to link Paris with Angers, Rennes, Nantes, and Bordeaux. Rachel Picard, co-founder and chief executive of Proxima, is well-known in the railway world. Until […]
June 06, 2024
Between 2015 and 2022, the number of reported bicycle thefts in the Brussels Region increased by more than 70%. This is according to a study by safe.brussels, the security management organization for the capital region. The rapidly increasing use of bicycles in the capital and region is undoubtedly making bicycles hip to thieves. 5,000 theft […]
June 05, 2024
The target of 5% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030 is extremely ambitious, according to IATA, the International Airline Association. Nevertheless, IATA remains committed to its target of net zero emissions by 2050, although its chairman, Willie Walsh, clearly states that it “is not going to promise to achieve something that does not seem possible […]
June 05, 2024
The current Belgian road code, which is some half a century old, will be modernized from 1 September 2026. This news was already known, but with the king signing the text yesterday, the new traffic rules are now officially in place. The new modern code gives everyone a fairer place on public roads – read: […]
June 04, 2024
The European Football Championship is coming up, but whether the football tournament will also be ‘Wunderbar’ from an ecological point of view remains to be seen. Although Euro 2024 bills itself as ‘the greenest ever’, football teams could also set a good example by, for example, traveling more sustainably and avoiding flying whenever possible. Greenest […]
June 04, 2024
A direct flight to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, took off from Brussels Airport yesterday morning. Brussels Airlines is offering the route again for the first time in just under a decade. “Brussels Airlines is Lufthansa Group’s Africa expert,” said Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO of Brussels Airlines, at the launch. “Except for Washington and New York, […]
June 04, 2024
Airlines expect to carry almost five billion passengers worldwide this year, a new record, according to figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This would smash the record set in 2019 before the coronavirus crisis. Airlines also expect to fly 30.5 billion dollars in profits this year, on revenues of 996 billion dollars. Previous […]
June 03, 2024
On a former Ford site in Blanquefort, near Bordeaux, Hydrogène de France (HDF Energy) has opened the world’s first high-power fuel cell plant. HDF Energy has developed an innovative renewable electricity storage solution combining hydrogen production and fuel cells to transform it into electricity and batteries. The site covers 7,000 m² – another 5,000m² can […]
May 31, 2024
The five Flemish provincial governments have launched ‘fietsbarometer.be’, a website offering all information on cycling data. With the site, they want to map all existing and future cycling initiatives and gain better insight into the cost of investments in cycling infrastructure and road safety. Four themes On the website, you can choose from four themes: […]
May 31, 2024
Over a quarter of fatal road accidents in Flanders and Wallonia are due to off-road obstacles such as trees, traffic poles, and crash barriers, according to an annual analysis by mobility organization Touring reported by the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. In 2022, it was 77 out of 282 road deaths in Flanders and 77 out […]
May 30, 2024
Rail freight company Lineas is getting a new 46 million euro bailout. It is striking that the regional governments in Flanders and Wallonia are now also going to help save the company, reports the business newspaper De Tijd. Earlier, the federal government supported Lineas financially twice. The company, the largest private rail freight operator in […]
May 30, 2024
At the Terhills tourist site in Dilsen-Stokkem and Maasmechelen in Limburg, five instead of two self-driving shuttles will now drive around to take tourists and guests there to the various hotspots. It is the first and, so far, only fully autonomous transport system in Europe, i.e., without a safety steward on board. The shuttles can […]
May 29, 2024
High-speed train operator Eurostar has concentrated the management of its entire network and incident handling in one place: Brussels. The new operations center, which operates 24 hours a day, employs some 100 people managing around 100 trains and 50,000 passengers a day. Previously, there were two operational centers: one in Brussels for the former Thalys […]
May 29, 2024
Customer satisfaction at Flemish public transport operator De Lijn is declining, even though it carried 17% more passengers last year. The ageing bus fleet and staff shortages continue to hamper De Lijn. The Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB also carried more passengers last year (+11%), but a more attractive offer and better punctuality ensure higher […]
May 28, 2024
Engie Electrabel is demanding 500 to 600 million euros in compensation from the Belgian government as the lifetime extension of two nuclear power plants disrupts the previously planned decommissioning plan. So, reports business newspaper De Tijd, which consulted the annexes to Electrabel’s annual accounts published last week. The government does not agree and has requested […]
May 28, 2024
The Brussels city council wants the Brussels Region to take measures against noise from amplified engines and exhaust pipes in the capital’s streets. To this end, the city council approved a resolution by Councilor Mathias Vanden Borre (N-VA) on the issue. According to the World Health Organization, noise is the second biggest environmental cause of […]
May 27, 2024
The Flemish government will start new proceedings before the Court of Appeal to demand penalty payments of 100,000 euros per day if the federal government does not adjust the flight routes over the Flemish periphery again. Flemish Periphery Minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) announced this in a press release. Federal Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) called […]
May 27, 2024
Last year, 59 accidents were caused by ignoring red lights in Brussels. From 1 June, Brussels will launch a new awareness campaign, “Do you think 1 minute before the red light is too long?” to call on motorists, cyclists, steppers, and pedestrians alike to obey traffic rules and respect traffic lights. Vulnerable road users are […]
May 24, 2024
By the end of next year, EV drivers will be able to access 130 (ultra) fast-charging points on Flemish motorways. Actually, there are already 95 of them available. “With this, the Flemish government will meet its target of installing every 25 km charging infrastructure along or close to motorways by the end of 2025,” says […]
May 24, 2024
Despite more checks, the number of fare dodgers at Flemish public transport company De Lijn has increased by more than 70% in five years. Moreover, De Lijn is losing a lot of money because half do not pay their fines. Last year, for example, 4,1 million euros out of a total of 8,2 million euros […]
May 23, 2024
The Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB will start operating the new tram line 10 from Churchill to the Military Hospital on 23 September. The new line should mainly increase the accessibility of Neder-Over-Heembeek, a borough of the city of Brussels. Residents of that borough currently must do a lot to get to the center of […]
May 23, 2024
Since the Flemish Traffic Center started measuring in 2011, April was the second heaviest month for congestion. The record for the heaviest congestion month ever remains June 2019 for now. Moreover, traffic jams in February, March, and April – with 167 km of traffic jams per working day that month – were never as heavy […]
May 22, 2024
Engineers at ArcelorMittal have launched a pilot plant in Ghent to capture CO2. The plant in Ghent is the first of its kind in the European steel industry. It is an important step toward greening the polluting steel industry. For all that, the Flemish government is raising support for the steel company from 350 to […]
May 21, 2024
Brussels Airlines is going to the Council for Permit Disputes against the new environmental permit for Brussels Airport. According to the airline, European rules were not respected. Thirteen environmental organizations and residents’ associations are also taking the same step, following the lead of the Walloon government and Brussels Environment Minister Alain Maron (Ecolo). They say […]
May 20, 2024
Track runners and incidents at level crossings cause more than 12 hours of delays every day on the entire Belgian rail network. To improve safety at level crossings and train punctuality, rail network manager Infrabel is now using artificial intelligence (AI). By the end of this year, 70-level crossings will be equipped with AI cameras […]
May 16, 2024
High-speed train operator Eurostar is to thoroughly renew and expand its fleet by ordering up to 50 new trains. It expects to put the first new trains into service in 2030. The HST operator also reached a turnover of 2 billion euros for the first time in 2023, a quarter more than in 2022. It […]
May 16, 2024
Of the approximately 1.2 million streetlights along Flemish roads, some 640,000 have now received LED lighting. By the end of 2028, all streetlights in the Flemish cities and municipalities should have LEDs. “Switching to LED lamps will provide energy savings of as much as 30% – or 30.876 tons of CO2 – compared to 2015 […]
May 15, 2024
In collaboration with Brussels public transport operator MIVB/STIB, Brussels Mobility has applied for planning permission to construct tram line 15, a new line to link Belgica metro station and the Thurn & Taxis neighborhood with the North Station and later with Central Station. The public space along the approximately 2 km route will also be […]
May 15, 2024
Several dozens of buses are idle at De Lijn because the right spare parts are unavailable. These should normally come from Van Hool, but due to the bankruptcy, the bus manufacturer cannot supply them to the Flemish public transport company. De Lijn expects it will not stop at these dozens of buses and has set […]
May 14, 2024
By 2030, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles in Europe must reduce their CO2 emissions by 45% from 2019 levels. That threshold will then be raised to 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2040 – the average lifespan of a truck is 18 years, that’s why. The European Parliament had previously approved these new emission standards, […]
May 14, 2024
These days, it is best to avoid the Leonard intersection on the Brussels Ring with the E411 highway and an even broader area around it in Tervuren. Due to the work on the Leonard Tunnel, there is a lot of traffic congestion around the tunnel complex, which will cause you to lose at least one […]
May 13, 2024
Last year, almost 1.2 million cars were presented for technical inspection in Wallonia. According to statistics from the Public Service of Wallonia, Mobility, and Infrastructure, 20% of them came later than the expiry date of the inspection certificate. On average, Walloons were 58 days late; in 2019, for example, it was 55 days. Different problems […]
May 13, 2024
Boulevard Charles Quint in Brussels is to be transformed into a city boulevard with more greenery and cycle paths. Brussels Mobility has applied for planning permission to do so. The avenue, which runs from the commune of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe through Ganshoren to the Basilica of Koekelberg, is an important but unattractive access route to the capital. […]
May 10, 2024
Belgian railway NMBS/SNCB is looking for a buyer for four office complexes at Brussels South, or Brussels-Midi station, representing 150,000 square meters, writes the business newspaper De Tijd. Usually, the consortium that may build the railway company’s new headquarters on the site of NMBS/SNCB’s buildings on Avenue Fonsny would take over the site. The sale […]
