Between Friday 24 December and Sunday 9 January, Brussels Airport is expecting around 527,000 passengers at the airport. That is more than double the 215,000 passengers that last Christmas during the height of the Covid crisis, and 58% of the number of passengers in the same holiday period in 2019 (988,000). The most popular destinations during the Christmas holidays are Spanish sun destinations such as the Canary Islands, Alicante and Malaga and city-trip destinations such as Rome, Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin and Lisbon. Popular long-distance flights are mainly those to New York and Dubai.
Some of the novelties this holiday period are the restart of winter sun flights to the Cape Verde Islands and Egypt, and the winter sport flights to Finland (Kittila and Kuusamo, operated by TUI fly) and for the first time to Bolzano (Sky Alps) and Innsbruck (Transavia). Flights to various exotic sun destinations have once again be resumed: Thai Airways International is once again flying to Asia and flights to, for example, Punta Cana and Cancun are also operating again. New distant sun destinations include Mauritius and Curaçao by Air Belgium and Havana on Cuba by TUI fly. Plenty of choice for anyone who wants to get away, whether to the snow or on the sun.
Christmas cheer at Brussels Airport
When the passengers arrive at the airport, they are instantly immersed in Christmas cheer: decorations have been put up everywhere, including more than 200 Christmas trees, thousands of Christmas baubles, and 5 kilometres of Christmas lighting. The eye-catchers are the two original Christmas trees under the departure board to which the entire airport community has contributed. And of course, Father Christmas is present on his sleigh and as always delighted to pose for photos (on 22, 23 and 24 December), just like the elves who you can meet all over the terminal (until the end of December). The Instawalls and the large illuminated Christmas globe in front of the departure hall are also a perfect setting for an original family photo.
