Celebrating its 20th incarnation in 2024, Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival is set to bring over 400,000 visitors and 122 different nationalities to the ‘De Schorre’ recreation park in Boom. 14,000 of those are expected to travel to the event with festival partner Brussels Airlines and the carrier is set to join in the party atmosphere with its brand-new Amare Airbus A320neo, which it says continues the Tomorrowland experience with augmented reality livery, “an impressive sound system and special mood lighting”.
400,000 festival goers, 800 artists, 16 stages and more
“We have been a loyal partner of Tomorrowland for 12 years now and are excited to celebrate their 20th anniversary with them,” Michel Moriaux, the airline’s head of marketing said in a statement. “I am especially proud to see our new Amare – with augmented reality feature – up in the air bringing the thousands of party people to Boom. Once more, we are flying the world to Belgium to (re)discover the internationally renowned Belgian music festival. A true example of our Belgitude!”
Themed “LIFE” as a sequel to 2016’s “Elixir of Life” concept, the festival will take place over the third and fourth weekends of July, featuring more than 800 artists across 16 stages.
But some of the Brussels Airlines services to the festival will effectively provide an additional stage. Party booths will be on concourses at Brussels Airport, and six flights will be “completely transformed into unique #TMLpartyflights,” the carrier says. “During those flights, passengers enjoy a first live DJ set at 10 kilometers altitude. On the very first Party Flight coming from Ibiza (SN 1182) on July 17th, the Belgian DJ Meaghan Slaets played a set. To get into the mood before boarding the party flight in Ibiza, they were treated to the first of eight gate parties.”
Carbon offsetting
If the words “carbon footprint” spring to mind, no one could blame you. Among the 400,000 visitors and 14,000 flyers travelling because of the event, “the most common nationalities are Spanish (23%), American (9%), closely followed by Swiss and British (both 8%)”, the organisers say. In 2023, emissions analysts Tapio calculated that the festival emits 150,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 9,300 Belgian households and the exact amount (2.5%) by which Belgium is supposed to be reducing its emissions.
But action is being taken to address this. The Airbus neo emits 20% less CO2 and up to 50% less noise than its predecessors. In addition, all “Global Journey Packages” sold by Brussels Airlines and Tomorrowland are classed as “Green Fares”. These “offset the individual flight related CO2-emissions through Sustainable Aviation Fuel (20%) and a contribution to high-quality climate protection projects (80%),” the airline’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Balázs Németh, said.
That’s one less thing to feel so guilty about as the party rolls on.
