Brussels Airport will enter its busiest fortnight of the year today as the French-speaking community begins its one-week Toussaint break, quickly to be followed by the Flemish holiday starting 30 October. Combined, the airport forecasts more than 1.7 million passenger movements between 16 and 31 October—about 8% above 2025’s equivalent period and the highest since 2019. The single busiest day is projected for Friday 16 October, with 82,000 departures and arrivals. To cope, operator Brussels Airport Company has reopened runway 07R/25L following a full resurfacing and lighting upgrade finished at dawn—crucial extra capacity that allows simultaneous take-offs and landings during peak hours. Additional security lanes and automated border-control e-gates are being staffed to full capacity, while rail operator SNCB has scheduled longer double-decker trains on the Brussels-Airport-Zaventem line. The airport is urging Schengen passengers to arrive at least two hours before departure and non-Schengen travellers three hours ahead, citing the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric checks that have lengthened passport-control transaction times by up to 30 seconds per traveller. Parking pre-booking has been discounted 15% to encourage early space reservation, and real-time wait-time indicators have been added to the Brussels Airport mobile app. For corporate travel managers, the message is clear: allocate extra buffer time, especially for Friday and Sunday evening flights, and remind travellers to update Advance Passenger Information to avoid delays at the new self-service kiosks. Air-cargo carriers also stand to benefit from the runway reopening, which lifts the night-time departure cap from 14 to 18 movements, easing slot congestion for integrator hubs in Cologne and Leipzig. With winter-schedule slot requests up 11% year-on-year—driven chiefly by North American and Middle-Eastern carriers—Brussels Airport’s performance over the next two weeks will be closely watched as a stress-test of Belgium’s readiness for the full EES and ETIAS roll-outs in 2027.
Source: Brussels Airport News
