Antwerp International Airport, french: Aéroport International d'Anvers, german: Flughafen Antwerpen is a small

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

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

20190224 Antwerp Airport IMG 5561 by sebaso

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 Stampe et Vertongen was a Belgian aircraft manufacturer formed in 1922 and based at Antwerp. The company specialised in design and construction of primary trainers/tourers and advanced trainers. One of their products - the Stampe-Vertongen SV.4 - ...

until its demise after World War II. During World War II the airport was used by the Luftwaffe, and also served the nearby Erla aircraft factory. After the German retreat in 1944, it saw brief use by

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

air forces, who called it Advanced Landing Ground B-70. Antwerp Airport was home to

VLM Airlines VLM Airlines was a Belgian airline offering scheduled, charter and ACMI services. It was headquartered at Antwerp International Airport in Deurne. It ceased operations on 31 August 2018. It is not to be confused with its Belgian sister airline ...

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 People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Altenr ...

. 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, Air Antwerp was created. It announced a thrice-daily service to London City Airport from September 2019. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline announced the suspension of the route as of May 2021aerotelegraph.com
(German) 10 May 2021 before shutting down altogether in June 2021.

Infrastructure

Facilities

The airport consists of one small passenger terminal with basic facilities including service desks, a small bar/coffeeshop in the entrance hall and at the gate, and a bar/restaurant with a terrace. The apron features ten stands for smaller airliners such as the

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...

. 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 for 25 years, starting in 2014.

Airlines and destinations

The following airline operates regular scheduled and seasonal flights at Antwerp International Airport: The nearest larger international airports are

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

, approximately to the south, and Eindhoven Airport, approximately to the northeast.

Statistics

Source numbers 2004-2014: Antwerp Airport ″Annual report 2014″
Source numbers 2014-present: Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport: ″Airport statistics″

Ground transportation

By bus

Buses 51, 52 and 53 connect the airport with the

Antwerpen-Berchem railway station Antwerpen-Berchem is a railway station in the south of the city of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. The station opened on 1 March 1865 and currently serves railway lines 25, 27, 27A and 59. History From opening until 1975, the station was simp ...

which operates local, intercity and international trains. These buses are operated by De Lijn.

Other uses

The airport is home to several flying schools, aircraft maintenance and repair workshops, operators of business jets, to several hangars for private aircraft, and to the Museum Stampe-Vertongen.

Accidents & Incidents

*On September 8, 2022, a Cessna Citation business jet operated by GlobeAir overshot runway 11 while landing at Antwerp. Nobody onboard, including Dutch DJ Afrojack, was injured, and the aircraft reportedly did not sustain damage. As of September 2022, the incident is under investigation.

References

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Airports in Antwerp Province Buildings and structures in Antwerp Airports established in 1924 1924 establishments in Belgium