Liege Airport, nl, Luchthaven Luik, german: Flughafen Lüttich , previously called Liege-Bierset Airport,, nl, Luchthaven Luik-Bierset is an

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 ...

located west of the city of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

in Belgium. The airport mainly focuses on

air freight Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail. Aircraft types Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft: * Passenger aircraft use the ...

. At the end of 2021 freight traffic reached 1,412,498 tonnes (+26%). Liege Airport is now the 5th biggest cargo airport in Europe and the 22nd biggest in the world.

Overview

The airport is located in

Grâce-Hollogne Grâce-Hollogne (; wa, Gråce-Hologne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality is effectively a part of the greater Liège conurbation, separated from Liège city centre by the municipality of ...

Liège Province Liège (; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Du ...

, north-west of the city of Liege, in the east of Belgium. The first terminal on the site opened in 1930. It is mainly used for freight/cargo operations, but also serves a number of destinations for passengers (mainly

charters A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

). Liege is located in the centre of the ''golden triangle'' Paris – Amsterdam – Frankfurt that handles 66% of European freight, and 75% when taken together with London. In 2018 it was the seventh biggest cargo airport in Europe. Liege Airport is the biggest cargo airport in Belgium, and the third-biggest for passengers after

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 ...

and

Brussels South Charleroi Airport Brussels South Charleroi Airport, nl, Luchthaven Zuid-Brussel Charleroi, german: Flughafen Brüssel-Charleroi (BSCA), also unofficially called Brussels-Charleroi Airport, Charleroi Airport or rarely ''Gosselies Airport'', is an internationa ...

. It is the global hub of

ASL Airlines Belgium ASL Airlines Belgium,aslairlines.be - ASL AIRLINES BELGIUM formerly TNT Airways

(the former ''TNT Airways'') and is also used by several other cargo carriers on a scheduled or irregular basis.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

As of July 2020,

TUI fly Belgium TUI fly Belgium, legally incorporated as ''TUI Airlines Belgium S.A./N.V.'' and formerly branded ''Jetairfly'', is a Belgian scheduled and charter airline with its registered office at Brussels Airport. The airline is a subsidiary of the TUI G ...

is the only airline offering scheduled and seasonal passenger flights at Liege Airport.

Cargo

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

*On February 20, 2021, a Boeing 747-400 freighter airplane, flying

Longtail Aviation Longtail Aviation is a charter airline based in St. George's, Bermuda and was formed in August 1999. Fleet The fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of 22 April 2011): * 2 Dassault Falcon 900B * 1 Cessna Citation S/II * 1 Beech Ki ...

flight 5504, which was bound for

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

from the nearby

Maastricht Aachen Airport Maastricht Aachen Airport is a regional airport in Beek in Limburg, Netherlands, located northeast of Maastricht and northwest of Aachen, Germany. It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Netherlands. As of 2016, the airport had ...

in the Netherlands, had to divert to the airport after take-off after one engine caught fire and debris fell over the town of Meerssen. Two people on the ground were injured.

Ground transportation

By car

The airport is located next to the E42 (exit 3), close to an important highway junction.

By bus

An express bus ( number 57) links the airport to Liege-Guillemins where connections can be made with local, national and high speed international trains (

Thalys Thalys (French: ) is a French-Belgian high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam to London via Li ...

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

). Bus number 53 goes to Liege city centre (Place Saint-Lambert) where connections are available with Liege-Saint-Lambert railway station and bus hub, and to Pont-de-Seraing railway station and bus hub. Buses 83 and 85 connect the airport with Liege's city centre (Place Saint-Lambert) where connections are available with Liege-Saint-Lambert railway station and bus hub, and Bierset-Awans railway station.

References

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liege Airport Airports in Liège Province World War II airfields in Belgium Airports established in 1914 Grâce-Hollogne