A study by UA and UCL universities confirms the importance of Brussels Airport as a key employer and economic powerhouse, generating 64,000 jobs and 5.4 billion euros in added value.
At the request of Brussels Airport, researchers from the Universities of Antwerp and Louvain-la-Neuve have carried out an in-depth study on the economic impact on the activities at and around Brussels Airport. Their findings were presented to the press on Monday 18 March.
Direct employment: 29,500 jobs at the airport in 2019
In the past, the National Bank produced an annual study on the economic impact of airports in Belgium. The last time this took place was in 2017, based on 2015 figures.
At the request of BAC, researchers from the University of Antwerp and UCLouvain have now carried out a new study. They mapped out Brussels Airport’s impact on employment and added value for the year 2019. This year was chosen as the last representative year before COVID-19 distorted the figures for a while.
First, the researchers looked at the activities that are directly related to the airport itself. These include airline and air traffic control operations, on-site hotels and shops, cargo operations etc.
Together, these activities account for an added value - the net created value contribution of economic activity to society - of €2.3 billion. The cargo activities account for 23% of this value, which shows their importance.
Spread across 357 different companies, 25,796 people work in airport-related jobs. In addition, there are a further 3,662 employees based at the airport site who work in non-directly related sectors (e.g. at consultancy firms based at the site).
Belgium’s second most important economic centre
Indirectly, Brussels Airport creates employment for 34,500 people and 3.1 billion in added value.
The total economic impact of Brussels Airport amounts to 5.4 billion in added value, creating jobs for 64,000 employees, confirming the position of the airport as the second most important economic centre in Belgium.
2% of the GDP
Moreover, the presence of the airport and its activities attract additional investment and activity that create added value and jobs.
If we also include these effects, the researchers found that Brussels Airport creates a total added value of €8.83 billion, which means that our airport accounts for almost 2% of Belgium's GDP.
More details are available in our press release.