Antwerp International Airport
Antwerp International Airport is a small international airport serving the City of Antwerp in the Province of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Located south of the city, it is used for some scheduled and charter flights as well as business and general aviation and served 273,130 passengers in 2017.
History
After the first flying events at the Wilrijkse Plein, work on a proper airport for the city started in 1921, under the impulse of pioneer aviator Jan Olieslagers and others. Sabena operated passenger services from 1924 from an old railway carriage as the only passenger infrastructure. A proper airport terminal was ordered by minister Maurice Lippens and inaugurated in 1930.The airport was home to the aircraft factory Stampe et Vertongen until its demise after WW2.
During World War II the airport was used by the Luftwaffe, and also served the nearby :de:Erla Maschinenwerk|Erla aircraft factory. After the German retreat in 1944, it saw brief use by Allied air forces, who called it Advanced Landing Ground B-70.
Antwerp Airport was home to VLM Airlines from end 2014, since independence from CityJet. VLM was offering flights from Antwerp to Hamburg and Friedrichshafen and was flying on behalf of CityJet on the route Antwerp - London City. However the airline declared bankruptcy on 22 June 2016 due to cancellations of ACMI contracts by People's. Due to VLM's demise, their ACMI customer CityJet handed over the operations of VLM's former service from London City Airport to Antwerp to Danish Air Transport. The Antwerp to Hamburg service was taken over by Chalair Aviation but has been discontinued.
On 6 August 2018, the revived VLM Airlines announced the termination of five scheduled routes with another new one not commencing in the coming weeks and that instead it would focus on charter operations. On 31 August 2018 however, VLM Airlines announced the immediate stop of all of their operations from Antwerp.
After the demise of VLM, a new airline "Air Antwerp" was created; it announced a thrice-daily service to London City, starting 9 September 2019.
Infrastructure
Facilities
The airport consists of one small passenger terminal with basic facilities including service desks and a bar/restaurant, which remains closed as of February 2020, following bankruptcy. The apron features ten stands for smaller airliners such as the Fokker 50. As there are no jet bridges, walk-boarding is used. Due to its short runway length only just over, it is not possible to operate aircraft larger than the Boeing 757 at the airport.Operator
The airport was operated by the Department of Mobility and Public Works of the Flemish Government which made an agreement with the French engineering group Egis Group to operate it starting 2014 for a duration of 25 years.Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and seasonal flights at Antwerp International Airport:The nearest larger international airports are Brussels Airport, approximately to the south, and Eindhoven Airport, approximately to the northeast.
Statistics
| Year | Passenger volume | Change over previous year | Aircraft operations | Change over previous year | Cargo | Change over previous year |
| 2017 | 273,130 | 1.15% | 37,509 | 9.40% | 2202.6 | 1.04% |
| 2016 | 276,311 | 24.95% | 41,401 | 8.60% | 2179.9 | 41.21% |
| 2015 | 221,138 | 82.22% | 45,296 | 3.58% | 1543.7 | 355.64% |
| 2014 | 121,357 | 11.43% | 43,732 | 0.86% | 338.8 | 5.32% |
| 2013 | 137,015 | 2.23% | 43,361 | 7.67% | 357.0 | 16.71% |
| 2012 | 140,140 | 15.62% | 46,962 | 10.89% | 428.6 | 1.28% |
| 2011 | 166,078 | 1.99% | 52,701 | 1.93% | 423.2 | 0.45% |
| 2010 | 162,840 | 3.90% | 51,703 | 14.21% | 421.3 | 8.25% |
| 2009 | 169,446 | 4.25% | 60,266 | 7.48% | 459.2 | 17.44% |
| 2008 | 176,971 | 1.21% | 56,072 | 8.69% | 556.2 | 4.71% |
| 2007 | 174,858 | 18.27% | 51,589 | 6.24% | 531.2 | 22.17% |
| 2006 | 147,849 | 3.58% | 55,023 | 0.28% | 682.5 | 46.33% |
| 2005 | 142,737 | 6.51% | 54,871 | 5.61% | 466.4 | 8.95% |
| 2004 | 152,682 | 9.72% | 58,132 | 9.61% | 428.1 | 13.55% |
Source numbers 2004-2014: Antwerp Airport ″Annual report 2014″
Source numbers 2014-present: Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport: ″Airport statistics″