Charleroi Airport Will Change

31 January 2007

Marcel Buelens, the new head of Charleroi Airport, want the contract with the Irish budget airline Ryanair to be revised, HLN.BE reports. “Ryanair is currently paying 2 euros per passenger. I believe the conditions of their contract have to be negotiated once again”, Buelens said. He has been in charge of the airport for two months.

In Beulens’ opinion, the new round of negotiations will begin very soon, as Ryanair would like to base more airplanes at Charleroi.

Buelens also wants to ask the airline to spread their flights more evenly throughout the day. “This will attract other airlines who currently don’t work with Charleroi due to lack of vacant convenient time slots”, he explained.

At the moment, Charleroi Airport works with four airlines, serving 2,2 million passengers per year.

Meanwhile, the total passenger turnover excluding Ryanair passengers amounts to a meagre 200,000 people. Buelens would like to increase this number up to half a million within five years.

The new airport head also plans to make the take-off runway longer and have Charleroi recognized as a Category 3 airport. This will allow the vessels to land at times of limited visibility, in misty weather.

Subject: Belgian news