Have you ever had to suffer your fate at Belgian airports in recent months because your flights were canceled or your luggage did not reach its destination? Let it be a consolation that it is not always better abroad. The summer of 2022 was not an advertising season for Schiphol Airport. Long queues, large crowds, canceled and missed flights also frustrated holiday travelers there. And tour operators.
For Corendon, the measure was already full. This tour operator will continue to fly from Amsterdam, but will also strengthen its presence in Brussels. Three aircraft will be deployed to Brussels, accounting for more than 200,000 available aircraft seats. A capacity increase of 35 percent compared to the previous summer.
That has its reasons. For example, Schiphol will set a limit to the number of travelers next May holiday. “As a travel organization, we are constantly misled by Schiphol because promises are not kept and a lot of capacity eventually has to be canceled or moved,” says Steven van der Heijden, CEO of Corendon. Corendon is not the first travel organization to take measures. Transavia started summer flights from Brussels Airport last year.
Brussels Airport is pleased with the expansion. Still, this airport doesn’t have the best reputation either, with a history of strikes and delays. “Occasional delays due to a strike are much less serious and deter holidaymakers much less than structural uncertainty about long queues and whether or not you will make your flight,” says van der Heijden.
The company does not have to go to Brussels for the social climate, says aviation economist Wouter Dewulf (UAntwerp). “Brussels has historically been a difficult story in terms of labor relations.” Brussels is also not a cheap airport, then they would have been better off going to Charleroi, he says.
Brussels does offer stability on another level. While Schiphol employees were fired in corona time (and never came back), staff at Belgian airports could use the system of temporary unemployment. The airport therefore suffers much less of a staff shortage similar to that at Schiphol. Moreover, there are more time slots in Brussels free than at Schiphol, which is tight in allocating places to airlines. Brussels Airport has also kept tighter control over the years, says Dewulf. Schiphol has left it to the free market.
Free parking
Corendon focuses on the Belgian traveller, but also wants to tempt the Dutch holidaymaker to fly from Brussels. Compared to last year, more than twice as many Dutch people opt for Brussels instead of Schiphol. Residents from the southern provinces in particular know how to find their way. Corendon is therefore steadily expanding its collaboration with Brussels Airport.
Flying from another country is still a psychological limit for travelers. Early bookers who book from the Dutch site can therefore park for free at the airport this year – with the exception of the months of July and August. Belgian travelers have also found their way to the discount: a matter of typing .nl instead of .be.
Another advantage for the Dutch traveler: the flight taxes in our country are still considerably lower than in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the flight tax was increased to 26.43 euros per person per flight. In Belgium this is 2 to 10 euros.
The chance that Brussels will become a major competitor for Schiphol is not great, says Dewulf, “but they can take away sweets”. Brussels ranks second in the league of European airports. The FLAP airports (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris) are still the four biggest attractions, with many intercontinental destinations and transfer flights in particular.
Balkan war
Tour operator Corendon is a Turkish budget airline that offers flights from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The company was founded in the 1990s. People who wanted to travel to Turkey by car could not travel by land due to the Balkan war. The Turkish-Dutch Atilay Uslu (now 55) then started selling airline tickets from his shoarma shop in Haarlem. The initiative grew strongly, which led to the establishment of Corendon. The company now owns airlines and several hotels and resorts.
Top man Uslu is still an accessible entrepreneur, who works night shifts at the information desk of Corendon at Schiphol and walks around the holiday fair himself and talks to searching travelers. Corendon is a family business. The current State Secretary for Culture and Media in the Netherlands, Gunay Uslu, is Atilay Uslu’s sister and was involved in its establishment. She again worked in top positions at the company between 2014 and 2020.
The Turkish-Dutch company is now moving towards Belgium. Three extra aircraft from Corendon will not be a major revolution for Brussels Airport, says Dewulf. But Zaventem can take advantage of Schiphol’s image problem: even if they get things under control in Amsterdam, it will take another one to two summers before traveler confidence is back, he predicts.
