Haren
On 4 August 1914 the German troops invaded Belgium. Their search for a suitable location to build an airship hangar brought them to a plain on the territory of Haren and Evere. In February 1915 the Berlin-based company Arthur Müller Ballonhallenbau finished the construction of a zeppelin hangar. On 7 June 1915 Flight Sub-Lieutenant J.S. Mills bombed the hangar and destroyed the LZ 38 airship that had been forced to return to the airfield with technical problems. The zeppelin hangar that was partly consumed by fire was repaired within two months, but it would never again be used to shelter the vulnerable airships. After the armistice of 11 November 1918 the Belgian military started to use the airfield and the remaining infrastructure. The zeppelin hangar that was not pulled down until 1923 was used to park the aircraft the Germans had left behind. A few of these aircraft would later be used to take civilians up on their first flight from Haren.

From the earliest days the Belgian royal house took a keen interest in aviation. On 31 March 1919 King Albert I signed the memorandum of association of SNETA (Syndicat National pour l'Etude des Transports Aériens), the predecessor of Sabena (Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne), the Belgian national airline that was created on 23 May 1923. A week after its creation, SNETA set up a test flight that would carry two passengers from Brussels to London, and back to Evere via Paris in a former German bomber. The whole flight took seven and a half hours, the time we need today to fly from Brussels to New York. Little by little scheduled services were organised between Brussels and the British and French capitals. The military tolerated the civil aviation activities on its airfield. The military part of the airfield was referred to as Evere, whereas all civil activities took place on the territory of Haren.

The first passengers that left from Haren were received in a small wooden building along the Haachtsesteenweg. As is to be expected in Belgium it didn't take long before a bar was built next to it where visitors could enjoy a cool pint. Next to the wooden building a first brick Aérogare was constructed that served mainly to accommodate the administrative services. The only large wooden hangar for civil aircraft burnt down on 27 September 1921. Because part of the SNETA fleet also went up in flames a large number of scheduled flights had to be cancelled. Soon after, the construction of brick hangars began. These hangars were enormous so that the still rather frail aircraft could be parked indoors in winter.

In August 1923 the first radio transmission station became operational. In December of the same year Sabena got permission to build a new airport terminal. On 12 February 1925 the Sabena Handley Page W8f O-BAHO "Princesse Marie-José" took off near the hangars on its first Congo flight.
A week after Charles Lindbergh had flown his "Spirit of St.-Louis" from New York to Paris, he landed at Haren. The hero was received in Brussels by King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth. The next day he left for Croydon in England.

Aviation continued to grow steadily and on 29 September 1929 the new airport terminal was taken into use. Although Haren still had a grass landing strip, a concrete apron was laid in front of the terminal so the passengers no longer had to walk through the dirt and mud to board their plane. In the early years of its existence, our civil airport didn't have an actual runway. Planes simply took off against the wind from the large grass field. In the middle of the field a white circle was drawn with a large arrow pointing north. A smoke pot indicated the wind direction. Even gliders were still allowed to land at Haren in the thirties. Just like the airport in Zaventem does today, Haren attracted new companies such as Poncelet, Renard and SABCA. 

Sabena was not the only airline at our airport. By the middle of the 1930s several foreign airline companies operated from our national airport: Imperial Airways, Air France, KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa (Deutsche Luft Hansa until June 1933), Hillman's Airways (to London with a stop at Het Zoute) and British Continental Airways. Also in those days pooling and close collaboration between airlines were common practice. With the number of movements amounting to 45,000 a year (252,000 in 2005), voices rose to modernize and expand the airfield at Haren. On 23 February 1935 Haren saw the start of the first scheduled service to Congo, 10 years after the legendary trip of pioneer Thieffry and his crew. The complete modernization of the infrastructure of Haren would never come to be. On 10 May 1940 the German troops invaded Belgium and within the week occupied the aerodrome.

Melsbroek
Soon after the invasion the Germans began with the construction of an aerodrome on the territory of Melsbroek, near the Belgian military back-up airfield "Steenokkerzeel". Where until September 1940 there used to be a windmill the new Fliegerhorst Melsbroek emerged. By March 1943 the Luftwaffe could already make use of three paved runways. After the liberation (3 September 1944) Spitfires, Wellingtons, Mosquitos and Mitchells used the same runways. The village of Melsbroek severely suffered from the allied bombings. On 10 April 1944 21 innocent civilians died.

Much of the German infrastructure at Melsbroek fell into the hands of the British and would directly after the war become the centre of civil aviation in Belgium. Many of the first post-war passengers were British POWs returning to their fatherland. They were repatriated by converted B 17 bombers of the Swedish ABA (Aktiebolaget Aerotransport), the so-called Felix flights.

After the Second World War the most of the civil aviation activities were moved from Haren to Melsbroek. However, Sabena continued to have its aircraft such as the DC-4 serviced at Haren until the 1950s. To take off with passengers the pilots had to drive their aircraft on the kilometres long taxiway from Haren to Melsbroek. Sometimes they flew empty between the two aerodromes. Between 1947 and the beginning of 1949 all scheduled airlines left Haren for Melsbroek. The civil aerodrome of Melsbroek was officially opened by the Prince Regent on 20 July 1948.

In the post-war years the Belgian airways agency "Regie der Luchtwegen/Régie des Voies aériennes" (RLW/RVA), created on 20 November 1946, worked very hard to give Belgium a civil airport with international flair. Very soon trendsetting airlines such as Pan American World Airways (PAWA) landed at Melsbroek. New aircraft hangars were constructed near the Haachtsesteenweg (Fromson/Herpain, now used by the 15th Wing Air Transport) and by the end of the 1940s also on the territory of Zaventem (Strabed, now used by DHL and SN Technics). In the year 1950 the aerodrome in Melsbroek registered 240,000 passengers. In 2006 that would be the number of passengers that depart from Brussels Airport in one week.
As from 1951 guided tours of the airport were organised for an ever growing group of interested people, the precursors of the guided tours currently organised by Brussels Airport. The one-hour tour was preceded by a documentary film shown in their own movie theatre. Many visitors went to the "Moeder Avia" bar to have a "Geuze Lambic" and a slice of bread with curd cheese. In those days a giant bottle of Lambic cost 20 Belgian francs, including the tip.

On 15 May 1955 the young King Baudouin officially opened the railway link between the city centre of Brussels and Melsbroek, after which "Bwana Kitoko" left for his first triumphant trip to the Belgian colony Congo. Ours definitely was the first airport where rail and air transport were perfectly integrated. Passengers could check in at the Sabena Air Terminus at the Central Station, take the train to the airport and get on board of their propliner without having to worry about their luggage. Sabena even had set up a helicopter network that took passengers to the heart of Brussels, the Groendreef heliport or the world exhibition.

Zaventem
In 1956 the then Minister of Transport Edward Anseele approved the construction of a new airport. Melsbroek was gradually becoming too small and would certainly not be capable of processing the large flow of tourists for the 1958 World Exhibition. The foundation works began in April 1956. Many houses had to be expropriated for the airport's expansion. On 30 May 1958 Anseele formally handed over the new airport complex to the RLW/RVA. The terminal with the wonderful departure hall was designed by the architect trio Maxime Brunfaut, Géo Bontinck and Joseph Moutschen. Typically for Belgium, the trio represented the different regions in Belgium with one architect from Brussels, one from Flanders and one from Wallonia. Via the roof terraces of the two piers pedestrians could get very close to the aircraft to wave goodbye to their uncle or aunt missionaries who left for the colony. In the early 1960s, when I was still a toddler, my father paid 5 Belgian francs for my ticket to the terraces.

Runways and hangars were adapted to the needs of the jet age. The first Sud-Est SE.210 Caravelle (F-BHHH) landed at Melsbroek on 25 July 1956. When Sabena placed an order for Boeings B707 it was clear that the airport needed longer runways. New hangars had to accommodate the jetliners. Hangar 40 was taken into use on 10 December 1964. A free-bearing roof covers a surface area with the size of "La Grande Place" (Central Square) of Brussels. Unfortunately this beautiful hangar was completely burnt out in May 2006.

To this day our national airport saw only one dramatic air crash. A small memorial in Perk reminds us of the tragic accident with a Sabena Boeing B707 on 15 February 1961. 61 passengers, 11 crew and one farmer lost their lives in the crash.

On 2 July 1970 the first jumbo jet landed at Zaventem. After the Pan American "Clipper Red Jacket" parked near the then south finger all but the entire airport community gathered around the aircraft. As from 1972 the RLW/RVA provided a special terminal for the growing sector of business aviation. On 25 June 1973 the Satellite was taken into use to give the airport at Zaventem more space to receive the growing number of wide-bodies. With this extension the capacity was increased from 6 to 8 million passengers a year. With the Jumbos operated by Braniff International and People Express international travel now also came within the reach of backpackers. At the end of 1979 Brucargo was opened. By 2006 the 25 square meters reserved for cargo at Haren in 1924 had grown into a cargo complex of over 100 hectares. Hangar 41, designed to accommodate Jumbos, was put into use in April 1983.

The Master Plan that the then Minister of Transport Herman De Croo presented on 22 January 1985 laid the foundation for the modernization of the airport. His project "Zaventem 2000" would lead to the creation of BATC (Brussels Airport Terminal Company), BIAC (Brussels International Airport Company) and Belgocontrol. On 22 June 1987 the foundation stone for the air traffic control centre CANAC (Computer Assisted National Air Traffic Control Centre) was laid.
BATC built a new terminal that was connected to the 1958 terminal and the 650-meter long pier B (for non-Schengen traffic). On 12 December 1994 the new complex was inaugurated by King Albert II. In December 1998 BIAC received the building permit for the construction of Pier A (for Schengen traffic) that was officially opened by Prince Philip on 16 May 2002.
Air traffic safety is guaranteed by the state-of-the-art control tower that was put into use by Belgocontrol in 2004. Brussels Airport's history goes back a long time. The events of September 11 and the demise of Sabena were a heavy setback to the airport, but today Brussels Airport is once again one of the fastest growing international airports. In the past few years the airport was proclaimed "Best Airport in Europe" by several organizations (including ACI/ IATA/AETRA).

On 19 October 2006 the airport adopted a new brand name and logo.

The author of this text boasts a long career working for Aviapartner, one of the handling companies at Brussels Airport. The history of Brussels Airport is his great passion. In 2002 was published from his pen the exhaustive historical survey "Brussels Airport, The history of Haren, Melsbroek and Zaventem" (published by: Uitgeverij Het Streekboek - Nieuwkerken-Waas).