Walloon airports: two economic engines to be protected from turbulence

1. Key figures: the weight of the Walloon airports

• Together, the two airports generate more than 32,000 jobs.
• Charleroi (Brussels South Charleroi Airport - BSCA):
  • 11.2 million passengers in 2025, a record, or nearly one in three passengers in Belgium (36.4 million in total).
  • More than 3,400 direct jobs on site and more than 20,750 direct, indirect and induced jobs^[1].
  • €139.2 million in revenue (+10%) and €16.6 million in profit in 2025 for BSCA, which employs 751 FTEs^[2].
  • One of the 10 largest employers in the Charleroi region.
  • €18 of added value per euro of public support^[3].
• Liège (Liege Airport):
  • 1,324,579 tonnes of freight in 2025 (+14%): 5th largest European cargo airport and nearly two-thirds of Belgian air freight.
  • 1,032,283 tonnes in the first nine months of 2026 (+7.3%), including exports up 18.5%.
  • 11,735 jobs (10,405 FTEs) supported in 2024, including more than 5,000 direct jobs, with more than 12,600 expected for 2025 (SEGEFA-ULiège, June 2026).
  • 143 companies and more than €513 million in added value.
  • 96% of direct jobs are permanent contracts and 84% of direct employees live in the province of Liège.
  • More than €40 of added value per euro of subsidy, the best performance among Belgian regional airports (University of Antwerp, 2019 data).

2. Charleroi Airport

• To protect its airports and the Walloon economy, the Walloon Government cancelled the €3 per passenger tax envisaged by the PS in Charleroi to restore the city's finances. This tax, which risked jeopardising BSCA's financial viability and therefore its capacity to continue investing, would have cost €16.8 million a year, the equivalent of the entire 2025 profit. The Walloon Government, driven by the MR, cancelled it.
• At federal level, the MR fought to bring the boarding tax down from €10 to €7. The MR will continue to call for a reduction in these taxes, whose only effect is to slow economic activity.
• The two interventions together were estimated at around €30 million in avoided taxes on Charleroi's activities.
• A Master Plan was also presented by BSCA's management, backed by the Walloon Government. By 2041, more than €115 million will be invested in the airport.
• Charleroi airport's infrastructure, even with the temporary facility, is too cramped to reach 16 million passengers. The plan presented by management provides for around €115 million in investments by 2041, with BSCA also needing to reduce its reliance on public aid in parallel.
• These investments will enable greater capacity, value creation, optimised operations, improved passenger comfort and a strengthened position for the airport.
• At the same time, in order to tackle (i) congestion at security checks and (ii) repeated strikes, the Walloon Government, driven by the MR and the Minister for Airports Cécile Neven, has taken concrete measures.
• The security contract was fully renewed and the airport invested €5 million of its own funds in a temporary facility housing screening checkpoints, which went into service in spring 2026. The airport also invested €3 million in cybersecurity.
• The new security checkpoint at the airport entrance now covers 1,740 m² and has 14 main control lines compared with 9 previously, providing a first very concrete response to the congestion problems previously experienced. This facility also allows for separation between FAST TRACK/PRM and other travellers. Passenger feedback on this facility has been very positive, and the airport's rating is climbing again.
• Thanks to the determined action of MR Minister Cécile Neven and the Walloon Government, strikes are decreasing.
• Wallonia's ambitious government agreement explicitly aims for an evolution in governance, greater autonomy for the management companies, the possibility of stronger private involvement, and a renegotiation of the agreements linking Wallonia to the management companies. This fundamental project for the future of our airports is what our Walloon Minister for Airports, Cécile Neven, is working on.

3. Liège Airport

• Liège is the 5th largest European cargo airport (1.32 million tonnes in 2025) and generates more than €40 of added value per euro invested by public authorities.
• With more than 12,000 jobs and 143 companies sustaining a genuine economic ecosystem around the airport, Liege Airport is strategic infrastructure, for Wallonia as well as Belgium, generating local activity and employment.
• As a leading multimodal logistics ecosystem, the airport constitutes a major strategic asset that positions Wallonia as an internationally recognised European hub. It is a direct lever for our imports and exports, serving our economy.
• Since the start of the legislature, several uncertainty factors have emerged: difficulties with certain permits required for the Master Plan, electrical capacity constraints hampering the development of economic activity zones, and new e-commerce rules.
• The main current issue today concerns e-commerce. After an excellent first half of 2026 (which would not have been the case at all with a national e-commerce tax), the end of the €3 customs duty exemption on small parcels, combined with the €2 fee on parcel processing costs, is already causing a slowdown in activity, although the final impact has yet to be objectively assessed.
• The MR will fight to ensure that European decisions designed to regulate e-commerce do not result in flows shifting to competing hubs outside Wallonia or outside the European Union.
• The MR will also stand alongside Liege Airport to pursue its Master Plan while strengthening its economic model: premium high-value freight, pharmaceuticals, multimodality, strategic and defence logistics, as well as better use of the passenger terminal.
• This diversification is essential at a time when Wallonia is ensuring its operators become less dependent on subsidies.

4. Aviation taxation: a weapon of mass economic destruction

• The effect of aviation taxes was studied in France: according to IFRAP (the institute of the Fondation pour la recherche sur les administrations et les politiques publiques), a passenger on a European flight departing from France pays €25.6 in state taxes. That represents 63% of the stopover cost, compared with €9.5 in neighbouring countries.
• A decisive effect on low-cost tickets: on a ticket priced at €30 or €40, this gap weighs heavily on the final price.
• Airlines moving to less heavily taxed countries: low-cost carriers place their aircraft where taxes are lower. Ryanair thus cut 750,000 seats in France last winter.
• Supply declining in France, and only in France: at the end of 2025, France was the only major European market where the supply of the three main low-cost carriers was decreasing.
• Less international tourism in the economy: across nine European countries, IFRAP observes that the more expensive it is to land a plane, the less international tourism weighs in GDP. It accounts for 9.6% in Portugal, 6.1% in Spain and only 2.4% in France.
• Traffic growth stalling: in the first half of 2026, air traffic in France grew by only 0.6%, well below the European average.
• Tax revenues that ultimately fall: fewer passengers mean less activity, and therefore less tax. Taxing tickets more heavily does not guarantee more public revenue.
• For all these reasons, the MR will continue to fight to abolish airport taxes that negatively affect economic growth, the attractiveness of our regions, the competitiveness of our facilities and jobs.

1. BSCA 2025 Activity Report ↑

2. 2025 Annual Accounts ↑

3. University of Antwerp, 2019 data ↑