This summer, the passenger traffic at Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) increased by 6 percent over last year. Indeed, fortune has been favouring the second most important airport in Belgium in 2019.
The sky is the limit
I was on top of the world, livin’ high, (…) I was living the life and things were just the way they should be, sings Randy Newman in Toy Story. Last summer, some nine hundred thousand travellers certainly had such lyrics in mind when crossing BSCA alleys with suitcases in their hands, like ants in an anthill. Indeed, the comparison is worth making as these summer voyagers were up 6 percent over last year during the same period. This positive development pleases Philippe Verdonck, CEO of BSCA: “The first semester ends with a green light”, he says, full of hope. Where do all these people head to?
Italy, Spain and France appear to be their three favourite destinations, but these top countries might soon be outreached by Israel and Austria as Charleroi airport is about to open new routes thanks to companies like Ryanair, Laudamotion or Air Belgium. Such achievements make the airport fly high in terms of air traffic increase.
Both this increase in BSCA’s attendance and these new destinations do not come out of the blue. In fact, they are the result of massive infrastructure overhauls. Indeed, it is not a coincidence that BSCA has become a first category hub.
Last May, huge works were launched with a view to extending the airport runway up to 32,000 meters long. In the end, this distance gained on the sky will surely enable the airport to remain one step ahead. Within two years and a half of works, the airport should have the capacity to welcome bigger aircrafts and thus launch more long-haul flights. In sum, all these efforts should lead to a greater number of passengers travelling through South Charleroi by 2020.
From Syldavia to Wallonia: Belgium on the verge of infinity
No doubt that the factors mentioned above foretell a bright future for Brussels South Charleroi Airport. The least we can say is that it is not the first time that Belgium actually flirts with the sky. Almost seventy years ago, Tintin and his dog Snowy already boarded on the XFLR6 rocket drawn by Hergé, the famous Belgian cartoonist, in his sixteenth volume, Destination Moon. Today, Tintin’s country shows a never-ending interest in the discovery of new horizons. But this time, dear readers, there is no reason to be afraid as the action is not set in Syldavia – this imaginary land which came out of Hergé’s mind- but in Wallonia !
Sources: Aéroport de Charleroi & La Nouvelle Gazette
