Brussels Airport has released its yearly round up of business figures for 2024 and they show an increase of 6.4% in passenger numbers over 2023. With 10 new destinations and five new airlines expanding its passenger offer and cargo volumes up by 5% too, with four new carriers, it is being claimed by officials as a good year for the European hub.
Over 23.6 million passengers were successfully handled by the airport in 2024. The leisure sector performed particularly strongly, as holiday travel and visits to family and friends increased the most. Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport indicated that the leisure passenger boom should be set to continue in 2025, due to a network “strengthened” by the new destinations, especially five “significant” long-haul destinations.
New routes boosting the network
The new long-haul destinations include a fresh connection to Nairobi, the resumption of services to Singapore by Singapore Airlines, and Bangkok by Thai Airways, as well as the addition of Curaçao by TUI. Furthermore, Hainan Airlines and Juneyao Air have launched direct daily flights to Shanghai, China.

Meanwhile, new short-haul routes include Krakow (Brussels Airlines), Bergen (Wideroe), Gazipaşa (Corendon Airlines), Bari (Transavia) and Tromsø (Norwegian), the airport noted in a press release.
Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels AirportThis provides numerous additional opportunities for holidaymakers, people visiting family and friends, and business travellers to access large parts of the world directly from Brussels Airport.
Transfer passengers up too
In addition, transfer passengers made up 14% of all departing passengers, and connections between Europe, Africa, and North America continue to show that Brussels is “a key hub for the Star Alliance network,” the release said.
Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Morocco, United Kingdom, United States, Portugal, France and Switzerland respectively were the 10 countries who provided the most passengers to and through Brussels in 2024.
Cargo up by 5% compared to 2023
The year also saw a 5% increase in the airport’s total cargo compared to 2023, in line with global trends. Four new airlines commenced cargo operations at Brussels Airport: LATAM Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, Farcargo and Virgin Atlantic.
The primary import regions in 2024 were Asia, Africa and North America. Asia also ranked first in terms of exports, followed by North America and Africa.
Passenger flight movements hit new record
Overall flight movements increased by 3% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 198,617. Passenger flights increased by 4% from 141 in 2023 to a new record of 144, thanks to the use of larger aircraft and better load factors. The number of cargo flights increased “slightly”, according to the airport, by 1% compared to 2023.
Those increases come despite fewer commercial night flights (between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am) in 2024. However, the number of night flights was over the 16,000 limit, and the small drop of just 109 night flights year-on-year will not be enough for those campaigning for noise pollution reductions around the Belgian capital.