Brussels Airport cannot keep expanding, says minister

Brussels Airport will eventually have to find a new location rather than continuing to expand at its present site, according to Didier Gosuin, minister for economy in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Last week the government of Flanders invoked a conflict of interest over the new rules in the Capital Region on aircraft noise. The airport is located in Zaventem, in the Flemish Region, and the new lower limits will force more aircraft to take off and land over Flanders, mobility minister Ben Weyts said.

Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport, discussed the issue on VRT’s current affairs programme Terzake. “This is a major problem for the airport and the airlines,” he said. “The number of fines will increase fivefold after 1 January, so a number of passenger flights will have to be cancelled.”

The sector is waiting for the federal mobility ministry to propose a law that would set down the flight routes. “That is absolutely crucial for the airport and the 60,000 people who work there,” Feist said.

For Gosuin, however, that is a problem for Flanders, not for Brussels. “The airport is not an economic magnet for Brussels,” he told the programme. “Barely one in 10 of the people who work there is from Brussels.”

Aircraft noise over the municipalities in de rand, or the Flemish periphery surrounding Brussels, is also Flanders’ problem, he said. “Thirty or 40 years ago there was hardly any construction around the airport. The Flemish government has allowed massive development to happen. Of course the people who live there now have a problem.”

That the airport will have to move is “unavoidable,” said Gosuin. “To think you can keep extending it until the end of time, when it’s already as good as in the centre of Brussels, is a fantasy.”

Photo courtesy Brussels Airport