Airport of Charleroi Brussels-South

The Airport of Charleroi Brussels-South (or Brussels South Charleroi Airport , code AITA: CRL, code ICAO EBCI) is located at the north of Charleroi, in the section of Gosselies, in Belgium. It is the second airport of Belgium and the first in Walloon region in terms of traffic of passengers. A new terminal, of an annual capacity of 5 million passengers, is in construction and should be inaugurated for the winter 2007-2008. It is one of both international airports ensuring the service road of the Belgian capital.

Distance from Brussels and run time

The international airport of Charleroi Brussels-South is located at 45 kilometers of the Région of Brussels-Capital. It takes approximately 30 minutes conveys some to join the airport starting from the South of Brussels (for example since the commune of Uccle), the essence of the course being done by expressway or highway.

History

The first flying activities with Gosselies go back to 1919 (flying school then activities of maintenance Aéronautique, the following year). The aeronautical manufacturer Fairey is installed in 1931 on the site, then known under the name of “  Mount of Bergers  ”.

The airfield of Gosselies becomes a public Aérodrome after the Second world war, but they are especially the aeronautical activities of constructions which generate the rise of the site (installation of SABCA in 1954, then of Sonaca in 1978, Fairey.

Years 1970 see the inauguration of a twice-daily connection Liege - Charleroi - London by the Belgian airline company Sabena. The experiment is quickly abandoned due to disappointing results, leaving the aerodrome of Gosselies practically without any passenger traffic (the aerodrome being mainly used for the private flights of leisures or the training flights, sometimes some flights charters towards the destinations holidays of the the Mediterranean or the Algérie).

It is only towards end of the year 1990 that the airport of Charleroi takes finally its take-off, with a new business of commercial management (BSCA - Brussels South Charleroi Airport) and the arrival of the company at low prices Ryanair in 1997 which decides to open its first continental base on the site in April 2001.

Although object of polemic about the assistances granted by the Walloon region to the installation of the company, Ryanair regularly decided the opening of new connections at the beginning of Charleroi (as well as the closing of certain lines, in particular towards Liverpool and London - Stansted). Ryanair was joined in Charleroi by other companies with low tariffs, like Wizz Air and Air Service More. The Polish company Air Polonia also opened a line Charleroi - Warsaw before being declared in bankruptcy. Today, Air Service More was replaced by Fly One Air, while proposing for single destination Pescara, on the Adriatic coast Italy. Today, the line is again closed. Wizz Air opened a Charleroi-Ljubljana line on May 1st, 2006. The Jet4You airline company opened a Charleroi-Casablanca line on November 1st, 2006. Blue Air, a Rumanian company low-cost, also opened a Bucharest-Charleroi line on October 29th, 2006. Ryanair announces the closing of the Charleroi-Salzburg line on April 16th, 2006. On the other hand, Ryanair will reopen the Chareroi-London line on June 1st, 2007. Wizz Air will launch a connection between Charleroi and Katowice on October 1st, 2007 and studies also new destinations at the beginning of Charleroi.

Ryanair revealed, in a study, that the airport of Charleroi could accommodate to 10 planes of its fleet.

The Walloon minister in load of the airports, Andre Antoine, revealed that the airport could lengthen its track of 650 meters to increase it to 3200 meters. The lengthening of the track was 20 years an old project. This project would be accompanied by homolgation CAT III of the instrument landing system (THEY) as well as construction of a news tower of control and development of ways of rolling (taxiway) in the north of the track.

David Gering, spokesperson of Ryanair for the Benelux countries, announced on December 13rd, 2006, that the inauguration of the new terminal passengers in September or October 2007 would allow the launching of many air links because the company badly does not have ambitions for the airport…

Lastly, the training flights remain very frequent, with three based with Charleroi and many passage flying schools of the Air force.

He was announced in the Belgian newspaper “  Soir  ” of April 16th, 2007 that BSCA was going to require, in the next weeks, the license of lengthening of the track to increase it to 3200 meters.

Ryanair wishes to found a transatlantic company low-cost which will connect the 23 bases of Rynair to 6 American north cities. The line Charleroi-New York should not begin before 2009.

The Wednesday the 1st er May 2007, Ryanair celebrated the 10th birthday of its operations in Charleroi. Indeed, it was on May 1st, 1997 that a Boeing 737-200 of Ryanair flew away for the first time for Dublin.

Passenger traffic

  • 2001 : 773.431 passengers
  • 2002: 1.271.979 passengers
  • 2003: 1.803.587 passengers
  • 2004: 2.034.797 passengers
  • 2005: 1.873.349 passengers
  • 2006: 2.166.360 passengers

Destinations

Ryanair - 4 Plane S based

Wizz Air

Jet4you

One Air

  • Pescara Italy (Will start again on May 18th, 2007)

Other operators

  • SABCA : Belgian public limit company of Aeronautical Engineerings
  • SONACA: Aeronautical manufacturer taking part, inter alia, with the construction of the hunters F-16, several models of Airbus (of which the futures A380 and A400M), and certain models of Embraer and planes Dassault.
  • European Academy Flight (EFA): flying school
  • New Centers General aviation (New CAG): flying school
  • Air Rent Service: hiring of planes (agreements with New CAG)
  • BFSBelgian School Flight: flying school

Aeronautical information

  • Track of takeoff 07/25:
    • Length: 2550 meters (8366 feet)
    • Width: 45 meters (148 feet)
  • Latitude: 50° 27 ' 33 NR
  • Longitude: 4° 27 ' 14th
  • Rise: 188 meters (614 feet)
  • THEY CAT III (approved CAT I) track 25 (IGC 110.900mhz)

Accidents and incidents

  • on April 4th 1978, a Boeing 737 -229C (registered OO-SDH) of the Belgian company Sabena, which accomplished training flights (“  touch-and-go  ”), is taken in a group of birds at the time of takeoff. Takeoff is fallen through but the plane does not manage to stop before the end of the track and leaves the enclosure of the airport, tearing off the antenna of the Instrument landing system on its passage before being immobilized in edge of a54 highway. The plane is destroyed in the fire which follows, but none of the three team members is killed.

  • on April 29th 2004 towards 18:00, a Boeing 737 -204A (registered EI-CJC) of the Irish company Ryanair ensuring a flight for Dublin is victim of a hydraulic problem on takeoff. The plane carries out an emergency landing later a few moments and is immobilized in end of track 25, the passengers being evacuated by the emergency toboggans following a fire of the landing gear principal starboard. The airport will be closed the time necessary with the replacements of the tires and the damaged brake. The plane will leave the runway towards 05:00 the next morning after the cleaning of the track, of the hydraulic fluid having been widespread. The incident did not make victims and the plane was given in service some time afterwards.

  • on September 22nd 2006, a Boeing 737 -800 of the company Ryanair in flight from Venice Trévise towards Dublin landed urgently in Charleroi. Momentary Italian 24 years was victim of the symptoms of an mild heart attack. In spite of the rapid intervention of the helps of the airport and an attempt at 40 minutes reanimation, the momentary one died with the foot of the plane on the tarmac of the airport.

External bonds

  • Official site of the Walloon Ministry of the Equipment and Transport
  • Official site of the management company
  • Ryanair
  • Wizz Air

  • New Centers General aviation

  • Belgian Flight School
  • European Flight Academy
  • SABCA
  • SONACA
  • Blue Air
  • Jet4You

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