2 million passengers in October

The two-week mid-term holiday of French-speaking schools in Belgium and the autumn school holidays in the Netherlands boosted the numbers of passengers departing from Brussels Airport as of October 20. On the other hand, the suspension of Brussels Airlines flights to Tel Aviv at the beginning of October had a negative impact on passenger numbers.  

The share of transfer passengers was 14.5% in October, which confirms Brussels Airport’s role as a hub, particularly for the airlines of the Star Alliance group, and more particularly for flights from Europe and North America to Africa. 

In the first ten months of 2023, some 18,990,000 passengers travelled through Brussels Airport. That's the same number of passengers we recorded for the whole of 2022! 

Flown cargo volumes: slight increase to 0.4% 

In October, overall freight volumes at Brussels Airport fell by 3% compared to October 2022, reaching 64,220 tonnes.  

After several months of decline, flown cargo volumes grew slightly (+0,4%), totalling 53,646 tonnes.  

The full freighter segment fell by 4% while belly cargo increased sharply by 24%, thanks to the increase in passenger flights. 

Flight movements: 3% increase 

In October 2023, the number of flight movements increased by 3% to 17,313. The number of passenger flights increased by 7% compared to 2022. There was an average of 142 passengers per flight, two more than in October last year, thanks to the use of larger aircraft and a higher seat occupancy rate per flight. The number of cargo flights decreased by 8% compared to October 2022. 

More details are available in our press release.