Brussels Airport reveals ongoing impact of terror attacks
Passenger traffic at Brussels Airport is still down year on year following the terror attacks in Belgium in March, which included two deadly suicide bombs in the airport’s departure hall.
In September, it handled 2,259,879, which was 2.8% fewer than in September 2015, a record year for the airport.
However, in comparison to the previous months, the difference in passenger numbers between 2015 and 2016 is steadily shrinking, it said.
The number of originating departing passengers in September was 5.2% down on 2015, but the airport said this was partly due to a decrease in the number of Belgians travelling to Turkey.
The airport also saw fewer tourists arriving from southern Europe, North America and Asia, which it said was due to various terrorist attacks in western Europe, not just in Brussels.
Transfer traffic has seen very strong growth of 14.8% compared to September last year.
"The growth is due to the commercial strategy of Brussels Airlines within the Star Alliance network. The growth is all the more impressive because Jet Airways also carried many transfer passengers up to March of this year," it said.
"Several airlines have grown in September compared to the same month last year. Especially Brussels Airlines and Ryanair, among others, have been showing nice growth figures."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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