A small international Belgian airport is attracting attention again due to its financial struggles and the amount of public money it receives to stay afloat – subsidies the Belgian government insists are justified, despite the lack of a legal agreement and calls for an urgent audit from critics.
Antwerp Airport, just five kilometres from the city in Deurne, is a small international hub operating charter, scheduled, and business flights, and is home to flight schools. Dating back to the 1920s, the airport was once used by beloved Belgian carrier Sabena, and the now-defunct VLM Airlines (Vlaamse Luchttransport Maatschappij, or Flemish Air Transport Company). It now serves fewer than 600 passengers a day on average.
In 2024, the airport received €5.4 million from Flemish authorities and €8.1 million from the Belgian federal government, yet recorded a net loss of €658,000 and is €10 million in debt. Research by De Standaard and VRT News suggests every single flight at Deurne costs the Belgian taxpayer €65, around 40% of which comes from Flemish residents. That’s despite the subsidy agreement that should be in place having expired in 2019, according to VRT. Even CEO Nathan De Valck has acknowledged: “We have too few activities to even break even. We can’t go on like this for another ten years.”
The situation is so bad that an “alarm bell procedure” has been activated, meaning the company’s net assets are less than half its capital, allowing creditors to demand dissolution.
Yet, despite this bleak financial picture, Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder has insisted the regional subsidies for the airport are justified. Some agree with her, with De Valck noting that the “alarm bell” sounding is a “normal procedure that applies to any company with low equity.” The airport is effectively underwritten by a guarantee letter and loans from French operator Egis.
But with further subsidies in the pipeline, and €15.7 million in infrastructure investments scheduled for 2025 and 2026, others, including environmental campaigners and political opponents such as the Greens (Groen), now joined by Forward party (Vooruit) and CD&V (the Flemish Christian Democrats), are questioning the airport’s viability and its raison d’être.
Greenpeace Belgium’s Joeri Thijs, speaking to Brussels Signal, pointed out that Deurne “mainly serves private jets, leisure and training flights” and that its life support via “taxpayers’ money is pure madness in a time of climate crisis.”
The broad group of critics have now issued calls for the Court of Audit to step in and scrutinise all regional airport subsidies, meaning Deurne’s fate could set off regional rivalries and a chain reaction threatening other small hubs, like Ostend, and even larger airports, such as Brussels and Charleroi.
