Passenger numbers at Brussels Airport rose by 1.9% in March despite the impact of Middle East conflicts and a nationwide protest reducing traffic by 80,000.
Flights to Tel Aviv (Brussels Airlines) and Doha (Qatar Airways) were entirely suspended due to the situation in the Middle East. Emirates reduced flights to Dubai, and Etihad cut service to Abu Dhabi, amounting to a loss of approximately 50,000 passengers.
On March 12, a protest against Federal Government measures resulted in 359 cancelled flights and disrupted travel for 30,000 passengers. Security staff from an external provider staged a work stoppage affecting all departures and some arrivals.
Carnival holidays in February, however, contributed to positive figures for March, with 1,767,797 travellers passing through the airport.
March also saw the launch of two new airlines: Air China, offering flights to Chengdu, and Volotea, which started three routes to Oviedo.
The ten most popular destinations last month included Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Morocco, Turkey, the United States, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Cargo operations at Brussels Airport performed strongly, with a volume increase of 8.8% to reach 75,000 tonnes.
