At least 22.2 million passengers travelled through Brussels Airport in 2023, up 17% on 2022, according to figures released by the airport on 12 January.
“A great result”
Calling the numbers “a great result”, Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company, noted the 17% year-on-year increase comes on the heels of a doubling of passenger numbers in 2022, and said “the entire airport community” was behind the effort to “complement and strengthen our network, both for leisure, visiting family and friends, and for business travel.”
A company press release places the data in the context of “a continued post-covid pandemic recovery, whereby the leisure segment, both holiday traffic and visits to family and friends, almost fully recovered.” Figures from the IATA meanwhile, show that global aviation is at more than 99% of 2019’s levels.
The airport also notes a “clear recovery in terms of business travel” but with the 2023 numbers (22.2 million passengers) still 16% below 2019’s benchmark figures (26.4 million passengers), the airport suggests the business uptick “is tempered by more teleconferences, pursuit of cost savings and efficiency and more environmental awareness, affecting shorter-distance business trips in particular.” Moreover, travel to Asia is not yet at pre-Covid numbers and the impact of the Israel-Hamas war and ensuring cancellations has also been notable.
Cargo
In total, 700,846 tonnes went through the airport in 2022, which was in fact a 10% decrease compared to 2022. Air cargo traffic at Brussels Airport also experienced a 6% decrease compared to 2022.
But Faust put a positive spin on these numbers, noting the airport was still ahead of the competition. “In terms of cargo too,” he said, “despite the global trend and geopolitical situation, our cargo community transported a high volume of cargo, outperforming competing European airports.”
Night flights exceed slots
Total flight movements were up by 7% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 192,257, but still 18% lower than in 2019. The number of passenger flights increased by 12% compared to 2022 and loading improved from 135 to 141, a record.
Commercial flight movements during the night (between 11 pm and 6 am) were at 16,284 in 2023, fewer than in 2022 (16,616). Up to 16,000 are supposed to be permitted by law, and over the year the slot coordinator allocated 15,733 night landing and take-off slots, therefore below the legal limit. Why were there more than that? Operational reasons, such as delays, can mean night flights without an official allocated slot can occur, and these are reported monthly to the DGLV (Belgium’s civil aviation authority). Some night flights are exempted, such as military and governmental movements.
