Airports in Belgium: All 8 and Which One to Fly Into

Belgium has 8 airports, but only four of them will sell you a scheduled seat: Brussels, Charleroi, Ostend-Bruges and Antwerp. Liège handled passengers until January 2026 and now runs on freight, and the remaining three are small airfields for private and recreational aircraft. That is also why searching for flights to Brussels turns up two different airports 55 km (34.2 mi) apart.

Listed below are the 8 airports of Belgium.

• Brussels Airport (BRU): Brussels Airport is the largest airport in Belgium, 12 km (7.5 mi) northeast of central Brussels. It is the hub for Brussels Airlines and the only Belgian airport with long-haul flights.
• Charleroi Airport (CRL): Charleroi Airport is the low-cost airport 55 km (34.2 mi) south of Brussels. It is Ryanair’s Belgian base and the second busiest airport in the country.
• Liège Airport (LGG): Liège Airport is a cargo airport 8 km (5 mi) west of Liège. It has had no scheduled passenger flights since January 2026.
• Ostend-Bruges International Airport (OST): Ostend-Bruges Airport is the coastal holiday airport, 5 km (3.1 mi) from Ostend and 25 km (15.5 mi) from Bruges. TUI fly Belgium is the only scheduled airline there.
• Antwerp Airport (ANR): Antwerp Airport is a small regional airport 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of central Antwerp. It handles leisure flights to southern Europe and business aviation.
• Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport: Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport is a business and general aviation airport west of Kortrijk. It has no scheduled passenger flights.
• Arlon-Sterpenich Airport: Arlon-Sterpenich Airport is an ultralight airfield east of Arlon in Luxembourg province. It has no terminal and no commercial flights.
• Balen/Keiheuvel Airport: Balen/Keiheuvel Airport is a grass airfield in the province of Antwerp used by light aircraft and gliders. It has no terminal and no commercial flights.

1. Brussels Airport (BRU)

Brussels Airport is the biggest airport in Belgium and the one to fly into for anything beyond a holiday charter. Brussels Airport carries the codes BRU and EBBR, sits in Zaventem in Flemish Brabant at Leopoldlaan, 1930 Zaventem, and is also written as Brussels-National or Brussels Zaventem. Brussels itself lies about 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest of the runways.

The layout is simple: one passenger terminal split into Pier A and Pier B, three runways arranged in a rough Z, and 24-hour operation. Around 80 airlines use it, including Brussels Airlines as its hub, TUI fly Belgium as a focus city, and the long-haul carriers a country of this size would not otherwise get, among them United, Delta, American, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and ANA. European traffic comes from Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, British Airways, SWISS, Aer Lingus, TAP, Ryanair, Vueling and easyJet.

Brussels Airport handled 24.4 million passengers in 2025, up 3.3% on 2024, across 198,370 aircraft movements. That still sits below its pre-2020 peak, and the airport blamed seven national strike days for roughly 275,000 of the missing passengers.

Getting into town is easiest by train. The station sits directly under the terminal, trains leave about every 15 minutes, and Brussels Central is 17 to 18 minutes away. Buses, taxis, car hire and parking all work from the same forecourt.

2. Charleroi Airport (CRL)

Charleroi Airport is the low-cost airport that markets itself as Brussels, and the distance is the thing to know before you book. Charleroi Airport is officially Brussels South Charleroi Airport, or Aéroport de Charleroi Bruxelles-Sud, with the codes CRL and EBCI, and it stands at Rue des Frères Wright 8, 6041 Gosselies. Gosselies is north of Charleroi, so the city centre is about 7 km (4.3 mi) south of the terminal and Brussels is 55 km (34.2 mi) north. The French border lies 50 km (31.1 mi) away.

The airport has two passenger terminals, T1 and T2, and does not run through the night: it opens at 5.30am and closes at 11.30pm. It is not a hub, so there are no transfer flights and no through baggage. Facilities are limited to a handful of restaurants and duty-free shops, and baggage trolleys are no longer provided.

Ryanair uses Charleroi as a base, and Wizz Air, TUI fly, Pegasus Airlines and Air Corsica also fly from it. Passenger numbers passed 10 million for the first time in 2024 and reached a record 11.2 million in 2025, which makes it the second busiest airport in Belgium after Brussels. The single runway was extended to 3,200 m in 2021, long enough for intercontinental aircraft.

One date to put in a diary if you book far ahead. Charleroi Airport plans to close completely from 15 August to 31 October 2028 to rebuild that runway, which has not had a full reconstruction in roughly 40 years. Flights in that window will move or vanish.

Flibco shuttle buses run between the airport and Brussels-Midi every 20 to 30 minutes, take 55 to 60 minutes, and start at about €13.90 (about $16, £12) one way, cheaper if you book online rather than at the desk. Local buses and trains reach Charleroi city centre, and taxis and rental cars wait outside.

3. Liège Airport (LGG)

Liège Airport is Belgium’s cargo airport, and it no longer sells scheduled passenger seats. Liège Airport carries the codes LGG and EBLG, stands at rue de l’Aéroport 50, 4460 Grâce-Hollogne, and lies about 8 km (5 mi) west of Liège. It runs 24 hours a day, which is exactly why freight likes it.

The passenger situation changed in 2026 and older guides have not caught up. TUI fly Belgium ended 31 years of flying from Liège on 4 January 2026, and airBaltic, which had planned twice-weekly winter flights to Tenerife South and Gran Canaria from late October 2026, cancelled them in August 2026 after weak bookings. The airport says it is too early to know whether scheduled flights return in summer 2027. If a route to Liège appears in a search, check that it is a charter and that it is actually operating.

Freight is the real business, and it is substantial. Ethiopian Airlines Cargo, CAL Cargo Air Lines and ASL Airlines Belgium all operate from it, and the airport sits inside the Amsterdam-Paris-Frankfurt triangle with the E42 motorway at the gate.

There is no railway station at the airport, despite what some guides say. TEC bus lines 53 and 57 connect it to Liège-Guillemins, the main station, and the 57 takes about 30 minutes. Taxis and rental cars are available at the terminal.

4. Ostend-Bruges International Airport (OST)

Ostend-Bruges International Airport is the coastal holiday airport, and it is the closest airport to Bruges. Ostend-Bruges carries the codes OST and EBOS, sits at Nieuwpoortsesteenweg 899, 8400 Oostende, and lies 5 km (3.1 mi) south-southwest of Ostend and about 25 km (15.5 mi) from the centre of Bruges. It has one passenger terminal and normally runs from 6am to 11pm, with occasional extensions for late arrivals.

TUI fly Belgium is the only scheduled airline. It flies year-round to Alicante, Gran Canaria, Málaga and Tenerife South, and has now made Hurghada a year-round route rather than an April-to-October one. Seasonal summer flights add Antalya, Chania, Heraklion, Ibiza, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Rhodes, and the summer 2026 programme grew by about 5%.

That list tells you what the airport is for. It sells sunshine to Flemish holidaymakers rather than city breaks to visitors, so as an arrival point it works only if your dates happen to match a charter. Cargo and business aviation fill the rest of the schedule. Taxis, buses, trains from Ostend station, rental cars and private transfers all cover the last few kilometres.

5. Antwerp Airport (ANR)

Antwerp Airport is a small regional airport inside the city, five minutes from a mainline station. Antwerp Airport is officially Antwerp International Airport, nicknamed Deurne, carries the codes ANR and EBAW, and stands at Luchthavenlei 1, 2100 Deurne, around 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of central Antwerp. There is one small terminal with check-in desks, a café and a restaurant, and it opens from roughly 6am to 10pm rather than around the clock.

Two airlines fly scheduled services: TUI fly Belgium, mainly to southern Europe, and Sky Alps to Bolzano. Alicante, Málaga and Bolzano are the busiest routes, and TUI fly is cutting back from summer 2026, dropping Ibiza, Antalya and Crete. Luxair, Air Antwerp, VLM Airlines, CityJet and Jetairfly all appear in older write-ups and none of them serves Antwerp now; VLM went bankrupt in 2018 and Air Antwerp’s London City route was suspended.

Antwerp handled 240,541 passengers in 2025, up 15.2% on the year before, and returned a small operating profit for the first time in years. It is a leisure and business-aviation airport, not a way into Belgium from abroad.

Public transport is better than the size suggests. Bus 31 runs between the airport and Antwerpen-Berchem railway station in about five minutes, every 15 minutes, and buses 51, 52 and 53 stop at Deurne Luchthaven a hundred metres from the door. A De Lijn single costs €3 (about $3.50, £2.60) and covers an hour of transfers.

6. Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport

Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport is a business aviation airport with no scheduled passenger flights. Kortrijk-Wevelgem, also called Flanders International Airport, carries the codes KJK and EBKT and stands at Luchthavenstraat 1, 8560 Wevelgem, in West Flanders. Wevelgem lies west of Kortrijk, so the city is about 3.7 km (2.3 mi) east of the runway.

The airport has one main terminal and operates from 6am to 9pm, with prior permission required outside those hours. Abelag Aviation, ASL Aviation Group, Luxaviation Belgium and Flying Group base light jets and turboprops there, mostly Cessna Citations flown on demand across Europe. The rest of the movements are flight training, private flights and medical evacuations, and the flight schools Ghent Aviation and Walair Aviation operate from the field.

Reaching it is straightforward by car via the R8 ring road around Kortrijk. On public transport, De Lijn bus route 40 runs from Kortrijk railway station to the airport in about 15 minutes.

7. Arlon-Sterpenich Airport

Arlon-Sterpenich Airport is an ultralight airfield with no terminal and no commercial flights. Arlon-Sterpenich, officially the Arlon-Sterpenich ULM airfield and also known as ArelAir Field, carries the ICAO code EBAR and sits on Rue de la Croix Rouge, 6700 Arlon, in the province of Luxembourg in Wallonia. Arlon lies about 6 km (3.7 mi) west of the strip.

It is an uncontrolled field with no tower, so it has no published opening hours and flies in daylight only. Only small private and ultralight aircraft use it, and no airline serves it.

There is no public transport to the field. If you are looking for a scheduled flight in this corner of Belgium, the answer is Luxembourg Airport, about 39 km (24.2 mi) northeast.

8. Balen/Keiheuvel Airport

Balen/Keiheuvel Airport is a grass airfield for light aircraft and gliders. Balen/Keiheuvel, officially Balen-Keiheuvel Aerodrome, carries the ICAO code EBKH and has no IATA code, which is normal for a field of this size. It stands at 17de Esc. Lichtevliegwezenlaan 8, 2490 Balen, in the province of Antwerp, about 4 km (2.5 mi) from the town of Balen.

The field has a single grass runway, 07/25, and no terminal. It operates in daylight and has no fixed hours, since flying there depends on the weather and on demand. Gliders share the circuit with private and recreational aircraft, and no commercial airline flies from it.

Public transport does not reach the airfield. The nearest bus stop, Wezel Nethehof, is about 1 km (0.6 mi) away, so anyone visiting needs their own transport.

Where to stay and how to travel on from a Belgian airport

Two of Belgium’s four passenger airports are not where you probably want to sleep. Charleroi and Ostend both sit outside the city they are named for, so book a room where you are actually going rather than beside the runway, unless you have a 6am departure. Airport hotels at Zaventem are the exception, because the terminal is on the mainline and you can be in Bruges by breakfast.

Rates across Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges are worth comparing side by side before you fix a base, since the country is small enough that any of them works as a single base. Prices for all of them are on Booking’s Belgium pages.

Trains do the rest of the work. Brussels Airport has its own station under the terminal and connects to every Belgian city without changing in Brussels, and domestic tickets are on the Belgian rail network. For cross-border trains and coaches, or for comparing the Charleroi shuttle against the rail alternative, use one search for trains and buses across Europe. If you are heading for the Ardennes or the coastal back roads, where the trains thin out, compare hire prices at the arrivals desks against DiscoverCars before you land.

What is the biggest and busiest airport in Belgium?

Brussels Airport (BRU) is the biggest and busiest airport in Belgium. Brussels Airport handled 24.4 million passengers in 2025 across 198,370 aircraft movements, which is roughly twice the traffic of Charleroi and a hundred times that of Antwerp.

It sits in Zaventem, about 12 km (7.5 mi) northeast of central Brussels, with one main passenger terminal split into Piers A and B and three runways. Around 80 airlines serve it, including Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France, United, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Delta, and it is the only airport in the country with a real intercontinental network. Cargo runs alongside the passenger operation, at 795,000 tonnes in 2025.

The train station under the terminal is what makes it the practical choice as well as the largest. Trains run every 15 minutes to Brussels and direct services reach the rest of Belgium without a change in the capital.

Which airport near Brussels is served mainly by low-cost carriers?

Charleroi Airport is the airport near Brussels served mainly by low-cost carriers. Charleroi Airport, branded Brussels South Charleroi Airport, is Ryanair’s Belgian base, and Wizz Air, TUI fly and Pegasus fly from it too.

The catch is in the name. Charleroi is 55 km (34.2 mi) south of Brussels, an hour by shuttle bus each way, so a fare that looks cheaper than Zaventem is often level once the transfer and the extra two hours are counted. Charleroi makes sense if your destination is Wallonia, if the fare gap is large, or if the route simply does not exist from Zaventem. It makes less sense for a short city break in Brussels itself.

What is the transportation option to get from Brussels Airport to the city center?

The train is the fastest way from Brussels Airport to the city centre, at 17 to 18 minutes to Brussels Central. The options are listed below, fastest first.

1. Train. The station sits under the terminal and trains run about every 15 minutes to Brussels Central, Midi and Nord. A one-way ticket costs around €10.80 (about $13, £9), which includes the compulsory Brussels Airport Supplement of €6.90, formerly called the Diabolo fee. Buy before boarding, because buying on the train costs more.
2. Airport express bus. The Brussels City Shuttle leaves for Brussels North roughly every 30 minutes and takes about 30 minutes. It is the sensible fallback when engineering works close the rail tunnel.
3. Taxi. Taxis wait outside arrivals and reach the centre in 20 to 30 minutes for roughly €45 to €50 (about $52 to $58, £39 to £44). Worth it with heavy luggage or a very early flight, not otherwise.
4. Rental car. Car hire desks sit in the arrivals hall and the drive takes 20 to 30 minutes in normal traffic. A car is a liability inside Brussels, where the low-emission zone and the parking both bite, and an asset the moment you leave it.
5. Public bus. De Lijn lines 12 and 21 run to Brussels for a normal bus fare, take around 45 minutes and can involve a transfer. Cheapest, slowest, and fine if you are travelling light.

What should someone know before visiting Belgium?

Listed below are the important facts to know before visiting Belgium.

• Language: Belgium has three official languages, Dutch, French and German. English is widely spoken in cities and airports, but place names change between languages, so Bergen and Mons, or Luik and Liège, are the same place on different signs.
• Opening hours: Many shops close on Sundays and most museums close on Mondays. Check individual schedules before you build a day around one building.
• Safety: Belgium is a safe country for visitors. Watch your bag around the big stations, Brussels Midi in particular, where pickpocketing is the usual complaint.
• Tipping: Tipping is not expected, because service and VAT are included in menu prices by law. Rounding up for good service is normal and enough.
• Currency: The currency is the euro. Cards work almost everywhere, though market stalls, small cafés and public toilets still want coins.

These are the basics, and our page of facts about Belgium has the rest, from the language border to the beer.

What are the best activities in Belgium?

Listed below are the best things to do in Belgium once you land.

• Kayak or raft in the Ardennes. Paddle the Lesse, the Ourthe or the Semois, which run from flat water to genuine rapids depending on the stretch and the rainfall. Charleroi is the closest airport.
• Attend a music festival. Belgium’s festival calendar runs from Tomorrowland near Antwerp to the Gentse Feesten in Ghent and Dour in Hainaut. Book accommodation months out, because airport hotels sell out first.
• Take a Ghent boat trip. Tours leave from the Graslei and Korenlei quays and pass the Gravensteen castle and the old Butchers’ Hall from the water. Ghent is under an hour from Brussels Airport on a direct train.
• Walk the Durbuy labyrinth. The maze at Barvaux near Durbuy changes theme every year and adds eco-gardens and wooden labyrinths around it. It is a car trip rather than a train one.
• Make chocolate in Brussels. Workshops in Brussels teach pralines and mendiants over an afternoon and send you out with a box. It is the easiest thing on this list to do on a layover.

The full list is on our guide to the best things to do in Belgium, and almost all of it sits within 90 minutes of Brussels Airport.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 4 tips below come from checking every Belgian airport against its own site and the Belgian aviation press in September 2026, and each one contradicts something still printed elsewhere.

1. Do not plan a passenger arrival at Liège, and do not look for its railway station. TUI fly Belgium ended 31 years of flying from Liège on 4 January 2026, and airBaltic cancelled the winter Tenerife South and Gran Canaria flights it had planned for late October 2026. The airport has no rail link either, whatever other guides say: TEC bus lines 53 and 57 run to Liège-Guillemins, and the 57 takes about 30 minutes.
2. Buy the Brussels Airport train ticket before you board. A one-way fare to the city runs around €10.80, of which €6.90 is the compulsory Brussels Airport Supplement, and buying on board costs more again. That supplement is the whole reason an 18-minute ride is priced like a long-distance journey, and no ticket type avoids it.
3. Use bus 31 from Antwerp Airport, not a taxi. It reaches Antwerpen-Berchem railway station in about five minutes and runs every 15 minutes, and a De Lijn single at €3 covers an hour of transfers. Guides that put the station 8 km (5 mi) away are describing the wrong distance entirely.
4. Check the 2028 dates before you book anything long-range through Charleroi. The airport plans to shut completely from 15 August to 31 October 2028 to rebuild a runway that has not had a full reconstruction in roughly 40 years. Flights in that window will move or disappear.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team has covered Belgium for independent travellers ever since, arriving through Zaventem, Charleroi and Ostend at different times. This page tracks the hotels, rail routes and car hire worth booking around each airport, and is updated when airlines, passenger figures and airport opening rules change.