In January, Brussels Airport welcomed 1,155,000 passengers, an increase of 3% on the same month last year. The fact that the economy is declining is reflected in the number of originating passengers who start their trip at Brussels Airport: in this segment, we record a decrease of 0.6% compared to last year. Transfer traffic on the other hand continues to grow firmly with 24%, driven by the development of Star Alliance at Brussels Airport and a stronger economic growth outside of Europe. In the current economic situation this transfer growth is an important leverage for the network served from Brussels Airport and for the international accessibility of our country. The traffic segments recording the strongest growth are once again the Brussels Airlines network and the long haul segment.

The impact of the national strike of 30 January was limited to 10% of the flights and to about 0.3% of the growth in the month of January.

In January, cargo traffic decreased by 4.2% under the influence of a worldwide cargo market in decline. The strongest decrease was recorded in the full freight segment, which in spite of the expansion of the activities of Saudi Cargo, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and EVA Airways dropped by 4.6%. Belly cargo (cargo carried on board of passenger aircraft) decreased by 3.3%.

In January, Brussels Airport recorded 16,227 flights, down 6.5% on last year. The decline occurred mainly during the holiday period in the first half of January.

Brussels Airport Press release 8 February 2012

Wizz Air, the largest low fare – low cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe announced today that it would move its entire Warsaw based operations to the soon to open Warsaw Modlin Airport as of 18 July 2012.

Wizz Air took the decision to move its Warsaw network and operational base from Chopin Airport to Warsaw Modlin in order to reduce fares on the market. The Warsaw Modlin Airport is conveniently situated north of the capital, about a 40 minute drive from the city center. The new airport will operate on a 24/7 basis and will allow Wizz Air to fly its schedule more efficiently without the operational constraints that exist in the main airport. Most importantly, costs associated with Warsaw Modlin Airport operations will be significantly lower, enabling the airline to slash fares for the travelling public. These considerations reinforce Wizz Air’s commitment to customers to offer an exceptional travel experience at truly affordable fares.

Prices start from 125 PLN (one-way, all inclusive) and to help us celebrate our move, Wizz Air is offering customers 20% off all seats, all flights to/from Warsaw Modlin Airport until midnight on Friday 3 February 2012. Book now on wizzair.com to take advantage of this incredible deal!

Wizz Air offers customers direct connections to/from Warsaw to the following business and leisure destinations:

Destination / Warsaw Modlin Weekly Frequencies
Stavanger NEW 3
London Luton 25
Brussels Charleroi 7
Stockholm Skavsta 7
Rome Fiumicino 5
Oslo Sandefjord Torp 5
Milan Bergamo 4
Paris Beauvais 4
Barcelona 3
Eindhoven 3
Gothenburg 3
Liverpool 3
Malmo 3
Doncaster Sheffield 2
Forli Bologna 2
Madrid 2
Glasgow Prestwick 2
Cork 2
Bourgas 3 (seasonal)

Customers who have already booked flights scheduled to depart from Warsaw Chopin Airport on or after 18 July 2012 will be contacted directly about the change.

“Wizz Air is pleased to reduce fares for passengers flying to/from the new Warsaw Modlin Airport. We are confident that customers will welcome the cost-savings we can now provide and follow us in our move,” said John Stephenson, Executive Vice President, Wizz Air.

“For all Warsaw Modlin Airport employees, this is a special day. Today, we finally have the sense that our airport is coming alive and our efforts over the years are bringing results. Wizz Air is a respected and well-known brand amongst passengers. Wizz Air’s decision to move operations to Warsaw Modlin Airport gives us the opportunity to become an important hub serving the Warsaw region. In the same turn, this raises expectations about the Warsaw Modlin airport and we need to meet that challenge. We are prepared to meet Wizz Air’s expectations as well as those of their passengers. We are convinced that together we will achieve success,” said Piotr Okienczy, President of the Board Warsaw Modlin Airport.

Wizz Air, 02/02/2012

With the installation of 7,220 solar panels, Brussels Airport adds its own source of renewable energy to its electricity network. The airport chose to use mono-crystalline solar panels with a total capacity of 1.7 MWp and an annual energy production of 1,500 MWh. This output is comparable to the annual energy consumption of about 450 families. The energy produced is injected straight into the airport’s power grid and will cover about 1% of the annual consumption of the airport.

After a successful trial project in 2010 involving solar panels being installed on the roof of a fire station, it was decided to have the roof of a large logistics building at Brucargo West covered with solar panels. The surface area of the roof is 30,000m², which is approximately the size of six soccer fields. The adjustment works to the roof structure and the installation of the solar panels took place this autumn.

Brussels Airport will also examine how it can further increase the share of solar energy in its power supply and is currently also looking into the use of other sustainable energy sources.

To Arnaud Feist, CEO of The Brussels Airport Company, the choice for solar energy was logical: “We have committed ourselves earlier to pursue a sustainable energy policy and significantly reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by signing up to the Airport Carbon Accreditation Scheme. For technical reasons, the share of sustainable energy sources in our total energy consumption remains rather modest for the time being, but on the total amount of energy used for 20,000 members of staff and 50,000 passengers a day, each percent is a major step forward.

Brussels Airport Press release, 12 January 2011

Last year ended with 18,786,034 passengers, up 9.3% on 2010. This growth rate is amongst the strongest in Europe and exceeds the world average of 5.1%.
All air passenger market segments have recorded strong growth, driven mainly by the strong performance of Brussels Airlines and the low cost carriers. Intercontinental traffic continued to do very well in 2011, after the already remarkable growth registered in 2010.

In December, Brussels Airport welcomed 1.25 million passengers: an increase by 6.1% over December 2010.


With 475,000 tonnes, the cargo volume carried was almost identical to that of 2010. Integrator traffic and cargo carried on board of passenger aircraft (belly cargo) increased strongly. Considered over the whole year, full freighter traffic registered a slight decrease, to pick up again to grow strongly in the second semester. In December a growth of 7,3% was recorded, one of the best performances in the European aviation sector in spite of the worldwide pressure on cargo traffic. This result confirms the position of Brussels Airport as the most important cargo airport in Belgium when adding up flown and trucked cargo.

In 2011 the number of aircraft movements increased by 3.6% totalling to 234,000 movements due to the increase of both passenger and cargo flights.



Brussels Airport Press release, 12 January 2012

Wireless LAN now free of charge in MAC and both terminals

FMG, the Munich Airport operating company, has launched a new service: Effective immediately, passengers and airport visitors can surf the internet using the airport's WLAN for up to 30 minutes with no fees. Users of notebook computers and WLAN-enabled handheld devices, from tablets to mobile phones, are now just a few clicks away from reading e-mails and checking their favorite websites in the waiting areas of both terminals as well as the Munich Airport Center.

The new free service is based on the existing Deutsche Telekom HotSpot service at the airport. Here's how it works: Users who wants to go online with their own devices simply launch a browser. A start-up page will then open with a link to the registration page, where the user can enter the access code. This code is then sent as a text message to the user's mobile telephone. As soon as the code is entered in the HotSpot portal, the user will have full internet access.

The free service can be accessed by a given user once a day and terminates after 30 minutes. When the free 30-minute period ends, a single click opens the regular HotSpot portal, where additional time can be purchased by credit card. The price for each additional hour of online time is €4.95.

Munich Airport, January 11, 2012