As you will have noticed with the terminal getting busier every day: the holiday exodus has started. The past few months, weeks and even days, all partners put in every effort to get our airport ready for one of the busiest summers in its history.
And busy it will be! For July and August together, we expect over 4.7 million passengers, up 15% on last year.
On some days, we will welcome up to 90% of the number of passengers in record year 2019, with morning peaks of almost 100%. On the busiest days we even expect over 85,000 passengers to pass through our airport.
In a video message, Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company, thanks all members of the airport community for their engagement and enthusiasm and calls on everyone to together make it a summer to remember.
You can watch the video here:
Below you can read the translation of Arnaud's message:
Dear colleagues,
The summer holidays are upon us, as you will have noticed with the terminal getting busier every day. If 2022 was still the year of recovery after the Covid crisis, 2023 confirms the trend that started last summer. A trend we also see in the forecasted passenger numbers.
The past few months, weeks and even days, all partners put in every effort to get our airport ready for one of the busiest summers ever.
For most people the summer holidays are synonymous with relaxing, but for our colleagues in operations they herald a busy period of hard work to get all passengers and their baggage on board on time.
And busy it will be! On some days, we will welcome up to 90% of the number of passengers in record year 2019, with morning peaks of almost 100%. On the busiest days we even expect over 85,000 passengers to pass through our airport.
In short, we’re up for a few challenging months.
To make everything run smoothly, processes were optimised, additional staff recruited and trained, the number of automated border control gates increased, and back-up plans were developed for various possible scenarios…
So, we are well prepared. But unforeseen circumstances can never be ruled out. For one thing, we truly hope that we won’t have to deal with another heat wave, like the one we had at the beginning of the month. Although this year too we will provide a mist cooling system near Connector and we plan several ice cream tours over summer.
I would like the opportunity to thank everyone who’s at work this summer, whether working in the terminal or in the cargo area, whether landside or airside, whether behind a desk or on the tarmac.
Thank you for making the difference for our passengers and all our clients! Thank you for your enthusiasm and engagement.
For those who are going on holiday themselves: enjoy it to the fullest!
Together, let’s make the summer of 2023 a summer to remember!