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26/08/2016
Brussels Airport test bird detection system
 Brussels
Airport has installed an innovative detection system that monitors and maps the
behaviour of birds 24 hours a day. The American test installation will be
stationed here for two weeks and will provide insight into the behaviour of
birds on the airport. The airport operator is taking several preventive measures
so that as few birds as possible are present and nest on the airport grounds.
Thanks to the detailed information provided by this observation, alternative or
additional preventive measures can be taken. |
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24/08/2016
NHV operating in Danmark
 NHV
has successfully started H175 helicopter operations in Denmark for its customer
Maersk Oil, an international oil and gas company with whom it has a
long-standing relationship.
The contract entails provision of passenger and freight transport services to
Maersk Oil installations in the North Sea from Esbjerg, Denmark. As the global
launching customer of the state-of-the-art H175 model, NHV now has a fleet of
eight aircraft of this type. NHV Photo NHV will provide a dedicated crew,
technicians and two Airbus H175 and H155 helicopters for the Maersk operations.
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19/08/2016
Brussels Airlines to fly to India
 Brussels
Airlines has announced that they will start scheduled services to Mumbai, India
in 2017. This one year after Jet Airways decided to leave Brussels airport.
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19/08/2016
Eurowings will fly Brussels to Salzburg service
 German
carrier Eurowings will start a new Brussels to Salzburg service next year.
Eurowings is expanding its activities in Austria and Brussels is only one of six
destinations that will be served from Salzburg. They offer 4 flights per week
and these will be flown by Airbus A.320. Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa
Group. |
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17/08/2016
‘camera-shield’ will protect Brussels airport
A network of security-camera’s
will protect Brussels airport in the very near future. Via this network security
services will be able to monitor all traffic around the airport. The system will
recognize suspicious vehicles and persons. This network will replace the police
barriers that were implemented after the terrorist attacks of 22 March 2016.
Police force will still be present and will do unannounced spot-checks on and
around the airport. The system will, of course, also reduce the number of
personnel that the police forces and the military use on a daily basis at the
airport. |
14/08/2016
Air Britain visit to Antwerp Airport
 Twenty of our colleagus of Air Britain made a guided tour of Antwerp
Airport, while on their way to the Schaffen Fly In. We gave them a warm welcome,
and with the help of the airport security and firebrigade they got a three hour
tour of the airport both on north and south side. The tour was concluded with a
visit of the Stampe en Vertongen Museum.
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01/08/2016
Brussels Airport introduces a
‘kids lane’
Traveling
with little children causes extra stress. Certainly when facing long queues at
an airport. Brussels Airport will introduce a ‘kids lane’. This is a special
security check for parents travelling with little children. Children younger
than 12 years will be guided, together with their parents to a special security
gate.
The system was tested some
weeks ago and will be formally introduced early November. |
18/07/2016
1st Commercial flight to St.-Helena
 On
July 13th, 2016 the first commercial flight with three passengers aboard arrived
at the remote island of St. Helena. (The island where Napoleon died in May 1821)
In 2011 the British government decided to construct an airport on the island.
This first commercial flight was organised by the Antwerp based The Aviation
Factory. |
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29/06/2016
Freddy Van Gaever stops plan to start a new (Flemish)
regional airline
At a press-conference
today, Freddy Van Gaever announced that he stops his efforts to start a new
regional airline in the wake of the V.L.M. disaster. Van Gaever explained that
he had all necessary qualified people and investors ready to take action. His
initial plan was to restart a scheduled service from Antwerpen to Hamburg (3
flights per day) and a single rotation to Southampton starting on July 11th
. The new airline, called ‘VG’, would be founded in partnership with Antwerpen-based
broker The Aviation Factory. ‘VG’ intended to hire at least 50 staff to start
its activities. There is also a deal with the VLM trustees to buy two former
V.L.M. Fokker 50 aircraft. Everything went well until a meeting with the Belgian
C.A.A. yesterday. According to Van Gaever the Belgian C.A.A. management has no
intentions to support the start of a new Belgian regional airline !!
 |
26/06/2016
ATR-42 for the Antwerp-London Service
 After
the VLM debacle on June 22nd, CityJet has been flying the Antwerp-London service
with their own Avro RJ85. As from today, a Danish Air Transport (DAT what a pun)
will take over on their behalf with an ATR-42.
Strange in this story is that some flights will go to London-Southend wil others
go to London City airport. |
22/06/2016
More passengers for Brussels Airlines
The
number of passengers on Brussels Airlines flights rose with 4,2% compared to May
2015. A total of 697941 passengers flew with the airline. On the North Atlantic
route there was an increase of 25,4% mainly due to the new Brussels-Toronto
service. |
12/06/2016
Two JMB aircraft VL.3’s plan flight to EAA Airventure at Oshkosh
 Three
Belgian pilots announced their plan to fly to Oshkosh in northern Wisconsin in
two JM Aircraft VL.3 ultra light aircraft. They will make this trip next month
and plan to fly from Belgium to their destination in 40 flying hours with only
five stops. The VL3 is a high performance side-by-side ultra light with a
cruising speed of 270 km/h. It is produced in the Czech Republic by the Belgian
company JMB Aircraft based at Amougies airport.More info about this event on
http://vl3-challenge.eu/en/the-team/ |
02/06/2016
TNT Airways (Belgium) to become ASL Airlines Belgium
 Irish
based ASL Airlines Group has acquired the
airline operations of TNT Express N.V. comprised of TNT Airways (Belgium)
and Pan Air Líneas Aéreas (Spain). The two airlines are to be renamed ASL
Airlines Belgium and ASL Airlines Spain respectively.
TNT Airways and Pan Air Líneas Aéreas have become part of ASL Aviation Group,
bringing the number of airlines in the Irish based aviation group to nine.
A staff of 580 people from the two airlines have transferred to ASL as a part of
the acquisition and the total number of global staff in the ASL group is now
2,500 from 51 nationalities.
The employees’ current terms and conditions of employment will be respected and
it is intended that the TNT Airways facilities in Liège, Belgium and Madrid,
Spain will be maintained as the corporate offices of ASL Airlines Belgium and
ASL Airlines Spain. TNT Express’ Liège hub (Eurohub) is not part of the airlines
sale. |
25/05/2016
Juridicial protection for VLM Airlines
 This
afternoon the Antwerp Commercial Court has approved the Judicial Reorganisation
that VLM Airlines NV voluntarily applied for on the 13th
of May 2016.
VLM Airlines NV will now benefit from creditor protection
for the coming 6 months. The WCO legislative framework will give the breathing
space during the coming 6 months to restructure and refinance the business as
planned. The management will be focussing now on the refinancing of the
business, preferably through a sale and lease back and continuing to scrutinize
our cost base whilst maximizing our revenue streams. |
24/05/2016
FlyingGroup and Lelystad
 Antwerp
based FlyingGroup will build a its own new maintenance hanger at Lelystad
Airport. The letter of intend will be signed next Wednesday at EBACE. Although
the group has aircraft bases at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the current choice is
in anticipation of converting Lelystad to a full flegded airport. |
14/05/2016
Second weekly flight Antwerp-Nador
 JetairFly
has announced that starting June 1st, they will fly to Nador on Wednesdays. The
present Saturday flight is highly successful and the company wants to make
travelling from Antwerp to Morocoo more fleible for the passengers. |
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13/05/2016
NHV to operate in Africa
Belgian based operator NHV have recently taken two Airbus H175 helicopters out
to Western Africa, and will be operating them from Ghana. They will be based at
Takoradi under contract to Tullow Oil, which has had interests in two
exploration licences offshore Ghana since 2006. NHV now has two H175s based at
Aberdeen in the UK, two at Den Helder in Netherlands and this pair in Ghana. |
01/05/2016
Jetairfly 787-800 having technical problem
A
Jetairfly Boeing 787-800, registration OO-JDL performing flight TB-705 from
Brussels (Belgium) to Cancun (Mexico), was climbing out of Brussels' runway 07R
when the crew requested to stop the climb at FL070 advising of a technical
problem with the gear. The aircraft continued in the general direction of the
departure route, the crew subsequently decided to return to Brussels, climbed
the aircraft to FL150 for a fuel dump over the North Sea and landed safely on
Brussels' runway 07L about 90 minutes after departure. Following landing the
crew requested emergency services to inspect the gear and specifically asked
whether there was any debris, fire fighters reported seeing nothing unusual.
ter. |
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29/04/2016
Brussels Airport partially reopens the departure hall on 1 May
The
departure hall at Brussels Airport will be partially open on 1 May. It took less
than 40 days for the Brussels Airport staff who worked relentlessly, to restore
a large part of the departure hall for its passengers. Following an opening
ceremony, the passengers of three flights departing on Sunday afternoon will be
able to check in via the departure hall. As of Monday, the check-in procedure
for all flights will be divided between the departure hall and the temporary
structure. |
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28/04/2016
New flight schedules at Brussels Airport
From
Monday 2 May a new flight schedule will take effect at Brussels Airport. The
number of passengers per flight is rising faster than expected, so a new flight
schedule has been drawn up for all passengers to leave in complete safety and
comfort.
According to the alternative flight schedule, the number of departing flights is
limited to 22 flights per hour, i.e. fewer flights than during peak hours since
the reopening at the beginning of April.
The work for a partial reopening of the departure lounge is entering its final
phase. However, a date for the reopening cannot be confirmed yet. |
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26/04/2016
Belgian drones producer AltiGator receives authorization
The Belgian company AltiGator, a producer of drones recently received an
authorization from the DGLV (directoraat Generaal Luchtvaart). As a result,
their drones can operate on a legal basis in Belgium. (if the pilot is also
certified !!)
AltiGator already received an
authorization from the French C.A.A. some time ago and is one of the leading
companies in this market. The ILVO (Instituut voor Landbouw- en
Visserijonderzoek is one of the users of a drone constructed by AltiGator. |
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21/04/2016
First orders for the Sonaca/Aviation Factory Sling
During the Aero 2015 at
Friedrichshafen Sonaca announced the first orders for the Aircraft Factory
Sling. This South African built aircraft is promoted and offered for sale by
Sonaca since last year. They received orders for 14 aircraft sold in Germany,
France the UK… and Belgium !!
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14/04/2016
VLM asks advice to customers regarding new routes
Following
the marketing ‘outside-in’ idea VLM organized an online survey. They asked for
suggestions regarding possible new routes. This survey was such a great success
that is was of-line after only one day.
VLM itself suggested new routes
to Munchen, Lyon and Dublin. |
03/04/2016 Brussels Airport partially reopened
The
first three flights of Brussels Airlines out of Brussels Airport flew today.
Ever since the terrorist attacks at Brussels on March 22, the airport had a
complete shut down. Over the next days, the number of flights will slowly be
expanded, but it is more than clear that it will take weeks before Brussels
Airport is back to its normal capacity.
In the meantime, the airports of Antwerp, Liège and Ostend will continue to do
(more than) their share of the work.
Antwerp airport has known its busiest week in its history. One can say that
thanks to the spirit of the airport's personnel and of the people that came over
from the different Brussels companies (Brussels Airlines, Aviapartner, ...) all
has been smoothly organised and passengers have been accomodated as best as
could be under the circumstances. This also goes for the other regional
airports. |
24/02/2016
Chalair to open toutes from Antwerp Airport
 The
French company Chalair announced today that they will start operating two
routes from Antwerp airport : Geneva en Caen. The latter will be flown three
times weekly. More details to follow at a press conference on March 2nd. |
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08/02/2016
Brussels Airport to be Spotter Friendly
Brussels Airport is trying to become "Spotter" minded and wants to hear
from you.
This is THE oppotunity to spill your ideas, remarks, etc.. about spotting at
Brussels Airport.
Follow the link underneath:
|
29/01/2016
Second Fokker 50 for Vision Air
 Vision
Air is to base a second Fokker 50 at Antwerp Airport. OO-VLF will be painted in
Vision Air colours during the next weeks. Along with OO-VLP both aircraft will
be based at Antwerp Airport. Crew and maintenance will be delivered by VLM. |
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18/01/2016
Liege airport in olympic shape
 2015
has been an exceptional year in goods transport by air for Liege Airport. 650
000 tonnes transited through our airport, i.e. an increase of 10%. Passenger
activity has remained stable. Investment to the tune of € 16 million will
underpin development in 2016. |
14/01/2016
Bigger WIZZ Air planes
 WIZZ
Air has announced that it will use teh Airbus A321ceo on its daily
Charleroi-Budapest service. On Friday and Sunday the service will be flown twice
daily. |
12/01/2016
All-time record for Brussels Airlines
Brussels
Airlines has seen its biggets rise in passenger numbers ever in 2015. 5,5 miljon
passengers used the airline last year which is a growth of 12,1% compared to
2014 and 30% as to 2013. This growth is far better than the Euroepan average. |
03/01/2016
Fantastic year for Antwerp Airport
 The
year 2015 was a fantastic year for Antwerp International Airport. The additional
destinations offered bij VLM and the coming of Jetair saw the passengernumbers
booming for the first time in ages. In total 221.155 passengers passed through
Antwerp Airport (compared to 121.357 in 2014). |
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28/08/2016
39th International Sanicole Airshow on 9 and 11 September
2016
The 39th edition of the annual Sanicole airshow takes place on Friday evening
9the September and on Sunday 11 September 2016.
The ‘sunset’ airshow of Friday is unique in Europe. Pilots will add lights and
fireworks to their airshow routine.
On Sunday the airshow will included a U.S.A.F. Rockwell B.1 bomber, an F18
Hornet fighter from the Spanish A.F. and the Swiss A.F. Pilatus PC.7 team
Aude Lemordant, the female world aerobatic champion will also perform over
Sanicole. Red Bull will bring their Lockheed P.38 Lightning and Vought F.4U
Corsair to Belgium for this event
More info :
www.sanicole.com.
 |
25/08/2016
Enlarged departures/arrivals hall at Antwerp airport
On
August 28th, the long awaited construction of the extention of the
departures/arrivals lounge at Antwerp airport will commence. Not a day too
early. |
23/08/2016
Air Belgium to take to the skies
A new Belgian airline is in the making and want to take to the skies in 2017
as Air Belgium. Main destination will be India and China. Niky Terzakis (ex TNT
Liège) is the man behind the project. |
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16/08/2016
Belgian pilot wins medal at an aerobatic competition
For the first time ever a Belgian pilot won a medal during an aerobatic
competition.
Wim Soens, flying the Extra EA.330 - OO-VVV, won a bronze medal during the World
Advanced Aerobatic Championship at Radom in Poland.
Soens scored 7.655,69 points. The French winner had 7671,40 points.
Wim Soens is a professional pilot and flight instructor and has 5.500
flighthours in his logbook.
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02/08/2016
Closer co-operation between Brussels /Airlines and BMI
Regional
BMI
Regional intensified their code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines.
Passengers can now book up to seven Brussels Airlines services via the BMI
Regional website.
Both companies have an agreement for flights between Brussels and East Midlands
and Newcastle since 2014. Now flights from Brussels to London/Heathrow,
Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast and Nantes (Fr) were added.
BMI Regional operates several Brussels Airlines flight with their Embraer
Emb.145’s including the services to Nurenberg and Nantes. |
28/06/2016
New Chalair route
Starting
Monday July 4th, Chalair will fly the Antwerp Hamburg service with Beech 1900 on
weekdays.
As from September 1st, both the Antwerp-Hamburg and the Antwerp-Geneva service
will be flown twice daily.
Tickets can be booked via
www.chalair.eu or through travel agencies,
on-line sales and Air France |
22/06/2016
VLM Airlines bankcrupt
At
noon today VLM Airlines announced its bankcruptcy. All flights have been
suspended and the 160 employees have been informed of the situation.
A sad day for aviation in Antwerp and Belgium.
Our toughts are now with the employees.
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21/06/2016
Flying Group inaugurates hangar at Brussels Airport
Today,
Antwerp based bizjet operator Flying Group inaugurated a 4.000 m2 large hangar
at Brussels Airport. Next to this hangar the company has a 3.000 m2 large apron
where visiting bizjets will be parked. This hangar is a new step in a plan that
should make Flying Group an important player in bizjet operations and handling
at Brussels Airport.
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26/05/2016
Russian approval for NHV
 NHV
and its Russian commercialization partner HELIATICA successfully obtained
approval from the Russian Federal Aviation Agency (RFAA) for NHV’s maintenance
facility in Ostend. This opens the door to the Russian market for NHV who
already secured a first maintenance project for a Russian executive customer –
6-year inspection on Airbus Helicopters H155.
NHV became the first foreign maintenance provider ever to pass through the
validation process under the new Russian regulation, Federal Aviation Rules 285
(FAP-285) which entered into force at the end of 2015. The new rules were
introduced by RFAA in order to harmonize Russian regulation with EASA and FAA
rules and NHV was the first maintenance provider to successfully get through the
transition period from previous standards FAP-145 to the new FAP-285 rules.
Earlier in 2015 HELIATICA was appointed as NHV’s local partner to market and
sell NHV’s maintenance and training services in Russia. “HELIATICA has applied
for validation of NHV’s training center”, – comments Tatyana DUSHENKOVA, the
general director of HELIATICA. – “We strongly believe in our partnership with
NHV whose experience in operations, maintenance and training under OGP standards
for international oil and gas customers, will be a big help for existing VIP
customers of Airbus Helicopters H155 and H175 and AgustaWestland AW139 and for
emerging Russian off-shore O&G market”.
The first Russian customer has already chosen NHV to perform a 6-year inspection
for his Airbus Helicopters H155 (EC155 B1). The maintenance project is expected
to be finished in June 2016. |
25/05/2016
'The Suite' at N'Djili
Brussels
Arline has opened its first airport lounge outside Belgium. The Congolese first
minister opened the lounge 'The Suite' at N'Djili airport. Passengers can now
enjoy the unique comfort before their flight to Brussels. |
24/05/2016
New hangar at Brussels Airport
FlyingGroup
announced at EBACE that they are opening a new hangar at Brussels Airport. The
new service hangar covers 4000m² with an additional apron of 3000m². |
21/05/20126
VLM F50 at Waterford on May 20th 2016, nose gear steering failure
|
A
VLM Fokker 50, registration OO-VLI performing flight W2-6142 from London
Luton,EN (UK) to Waterford (Ireland) with 14 passengers and 4 crew, was
on final approach to Waterford's runway 03 when the crew went around and
decided to divert to Dublin. On approach to Dublin the crew advised they
had a problem with the nose gear steering, needed a towbar for the F50
and a tug to vacate the runway as quickly as possible. The aircraft was
vectored for an approach to Dublin's runway 28 and stopped on the
runway, while the airport switched to runway 16. The Fokker 50 was
subsequently towed off the runway.
By
Simon Hradecky |
|
13/05/2016
VLM Airlines protected against debtors
VLM
Airlines has today filed for juridicial reorganisation. Therefor the company is
now protected for six months against creditors and should give the company enough
time to fully implement the reorgansiation which started in January of this year
and pay-off the historical debts the company has. |
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06/05/2016
Aero Service stopped operations
Aero Service is a Dutch maintenance organisation that took over the general
aviation maintenance activities from Abelag Aviation about two years ago.
Recently the company stopped all operations at Antwerp Airport. The company
offered maintenance services for single and twin engined piston-aircraft. It
seems the company ran into financial difficulties resulting in the closure of
the Antwerp facility. |
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29/04/2016
Air Canada downgrades aircraft on the Brussels service
 Air
Canada is a new name in the long list of foreign carriers that are reducing the
number of flights into Brussels or flying with smaller aircraft. The company
announced that, till 1st June 2016, the Airbus A.330-300 normally
used will be replaced by the smaller Boeing 767-300. The result will be a
reduction of about 20% of seats available. |
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28/04/2016
Ryanair to start Charleroi-Glasgow service
 Rayanair
has announced that they will start operting a twice-weekly Charleroi-Glasgow
service as from October 30th, 2016. Tickets are available from 19,99 eur. |
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28/04/2016
Lufthansa postpones Brussels Airlines integration
The
full integration of Brussels Airlines into the Lufhansa Group has been
postponed. The Germans decided to take the decision to buy the remaining 45% of
the Brussels Airlines stock only in September of this year. The official reason
for this decision is the recent terrorist attack at Brussels Airport that
totally disrupted the operations of Brussels Airlines.
But… there are still serious discussions regarding the role of Brussels Airlines
in the Lufthansa Group. Brussels Airlines should merge with low-cost carrier
Germanwings. On the other hand Brussels Airlines became a strong name, certainly
for the African flights and the company wants to preserve their identity. There
also seems to be no clear view on the future of Brussels Airlines within the
Lufthansa Group regarding new services and aircraft. |
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27/04/2016
Very successful Aero 2016 for JMB Aircraft
Amougies based ULM dealer JMB Aircraft had a very successful Aero 2016 at
Friedrichshafen (Germany) earlier this month.
The company sold 10 JMB aircraft VL.3 aircraft (the former Aveko VL.3). The
company now has a backlog for 43 aircraft. They decided to increase the
production rate from 4 to 5 aircraft per month in order to reduce the delivery
time. Delivery time for new orders is now February 2017 ! |
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22/04/2016
KLM campaign ‘not correct’ according
to PM Charles Michel
 Belgian
Prime Minister Charles Michel gave a reaction to the KLM commercial campaign
that started on the Flemish radio-stations earlier this week. KLM not only
promotes flying from Amsterdam/Schiphol but also adds a Thalys trainticket from
Brussel or Antwerpen in their ticket-price.
Charles Michel commented that KLM has the right to start a commercial campaign
in Belgium but added that this action is ‘not correct’ ! |
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16/04/2016
Brussels Airport will reopen the old trainstation
Brussels
Airport is considering to reopen the former (old) train station. After the 22
March terrorist attack it remains impossible to reach the airport by train. The
new train station gives direct access to the destroyed departure hall. And this
hall is (of course) closed for renovation works.
When the old station reopens passengers will be able the reach the airport by
train and will arrive outside the airport building where they have to queue for
the additional security checks. |
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15/04/2016
Embraer 545 – OO-NEY used for testflights
Belgian registered Embraer 545 Legacy 450 -OO-NEY
– was leased back by the constructor for flight into La Mole/Cote d’Azur airport
recently. This airport has a runway of 1.180 meters only and is surrounded by
mountains. After these flights Embraer obtained permission to fly the Emb.545
Legacy 450 into this very popular airport. This aircraft type is now the largest
bizjet that is allowed to operate from La Mole. |
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04/03/2016
Renovation works on runway
01/19
Brussels
Airport is planning major renovation works on runway 01/19 from 26 July to 25
September 2016. To minimise their duration and their impact on neighbouring
residents and airport activities, the renovation works will be carried out in
stages, including at night. During the works, runway use will deviate from the
preferential runway system (PRS). |
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09/02/2016
Strong passenger growth - Freight down
Brussels
Airport received almost 1.5 million passengers in January, which is a
significant increase of 7.5% compared with January last year. On the other hand,
the number of flight movements rose by less than 1%, which means that the
passenger load factor was much higher than in January last year. Freight volume
declined by 2.4% compared with January last year. The decrease can be attributed
to the departure of Ethiopian Cargo, which did not obtain the necessary traffic
rights for Belgium. |
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29/01/2016
New shop at Antwerp Airport
As planned, the new Antwerpflyshop opened its doors today in the check-in hall
at Antwerp Airport. The shop sells coffee, Antwerp brewed beers (De Koninck,
Vedett, Duvel) and other specialities typical for Antwerp.
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12/01/2016
New passenger record for Brussels Airport
Brussels
Airport can look back on a year of strong growth. In 2015, the number of
passengers grew by 7% on last year, with Brussels Airport receiving almost 23.5
million passengers. Freight transport through Brussels Airport in 2015 saw
vigorous growth of nearly 8% compared with 2014, especially the full freighter
segment and the express services. |
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