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Brussels Airport is the growth engine of our country’s economy
Brussels Airport is of strategic importance for the economic growth of our country. Indeed, the transport sector, and aviation in particular will grow strongly in the decades ahead, because more people will travel by air, whether to go on holiday or for business.
Cargo traffic too will grow. Consumers expect to find a diverse range of fruit, fresh fish or exotic spices in their shops every day.
Those products sometimes come from the other side of the world and must reach the shelves as quickly as possible. Companies too purchase products and necessities on the international market and want to receive these are quickly as possible.
These new travel habits and consumption patterns are turning airports into economic growth poles. They attract companies and thus create new business opportunities and new jobs.
Brussels Airport can, by 2040, provide jobs, directly or indirectly, to 120,000 people. That is double the number today.
Likewise, the added economic value of Brussels Airport to our country may double by 2040 to 6.4 billion euros per year. This can only be achieved if Brussels Airport grasps the opportunities for growth and develops at the same pace as the other European airports.
Brussels Airport is the second pole of economic growth in our country and creates tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in our country. The airport is a gateway to the rest of the world, essential for the thousands of other companies in our country that import and export products through Brussels Airport.
Brussels Airport essential for growth of Belgian economy
According to prognoses, the European economy will have grown by 44% by 2040; for Belgium, the predicted growth is lower than the European average (+33%).
If Brussels Airport can grow at the same pace as the European air traffic, its volumes can grow by 78%. The growth of the airport is more than double that of the general growth of Belgium (+33%). In this way, the airport does not only make a major contribution to the Belgian economy, but is even essential for the growth and prosperity of our country.
If the volumes at Brussels Airport do not keep in step with the European growth rate, the growth for our country will, by 2040, be lower than the predicted 33%. That growth will go instead to our neighbouring countries.
The airports in our neighbouring countries will attract tourists and business travellers and expand their network. Brussels Airport will be able to offer fewer connections with the rest of the world and this will mean that the key industries in our country will be disadvantaged.
We offer our product throughout the world and so we travel quite a lot! We knew that mobility and connectivity would be crucial for our success. That is why we moved into the Brussels Montgomery district: a perfect base of operations for our activities in Belgium and, through Brussels Airport, also for those in Europe and in the rest of the world.
Brussels Airport is a vital economic growth engine for our country, with the potential of being able to offer jobs to 120,000 persons in 2040, double today’s number. To allow the economy of our country to grow, this potential must be used to the full and Brussels Airport must be given growth opportunities.