18.93 million passengers. This is the number of passengers announced by Brussels airport last year. This represents an increase of 102% compared with 2021 (9.4 million passengers). With this number of passengers, l'Belgian airport posted traffic of just 28%, below its record for 2019. Before the Covid crisis, Brussels had reached a total of more than 26 million passengers.
After a first half impacted by Covid travel restrictions, thehe recovery in traffic was much stronger in the second half of the year with several months above the 2019 level of 80%.
"After two complicated years, marked by the Covid crisis and its travel restrictions, Brussels Airport has enjoyed a good year. very strong growth in 2022. We are proud to have been able to managing this growth by offering a quality service to our passengers" says Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport.
"Since last summer, our network has been almost completely rebuilt, and for several months we have achieved 80% more passengers than in 2019. The year 2023 looks promising, with new destinations and more frequencies for both short- and long-haul flights." he adds.
Business traffic back on track since autumn
Growth was initially driven by leisure traffic. However, the authorities have noted a clear upturn in business travel since the autumn. Growth in passenger numbers in correspondence via Brussels Airport was also more marked with the re-establishment of connecting flights from the Brussels Airlines hub and its Star Alliance partners.
The share of transfer passengers was 15 %This compares with 18 % in 2019, with a marked upturn mainly in the second half of the year. Transfers accounted for a volume of 1.4 million of travellers compared with 2.3 million before the crisis. The month of December recorded 1.457 million passengers, up 77% on 2019.
The ten most visited countries in 2022 were Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Portugal, the United States, France, Greece, the United Kingdom and Morocco. Turkey, Greece and Morocco even surpassed 2019's record levels.
