Brussels Airport (Zaventem)

Brussels is not a mega hub like Frankfurt or Paris – and that is exactly why many spotters underestimate it. The same three runways see Africa flights from Brussels Airlines, holiday jets from TUI fly Belgium, freighters for the forwarders at Brucargo, A400M transports of the Belgian Air Component and, whenever a summit is on in the city, government aircraft from half of Europe. On top of that comes something you don’t find at every major airport: official spotting platforms set up by the operator itself.

From wartime airfield to Expo airport

The roots of today’s airport lie in World War II. During the occupation, German troops built the Melsbroek airfield northeast of Brussels. After the war it took over the role of the old Brussels airfield at Haren, from which Sabena and the military had flown until then, and in 1948 it was also used for civilian scheduled traffic.

The real leap came with the Expo 58 world’s fair. For it, a new terminal building was built on the Zaventem side of the grounds and opened on July 5, 1958; the runway 07R/25L it required had already been built two years earlier. Since then there has been the split you can still see today: in the south the civil airport with terminal and piers, in the north the Melsbroek side with the military and parts of the cargo operation.

The next big steps followed in the 1990s and 2000s. In December 1994 the new terminal with Pier B opened, and in May 2002 Pier A was added. Right in that period came the harshest blow in the airport’s history: at the end of 2001 the Belgian national airline Sabena went bankrupt. Passenger numbers collapsed, and it took years for the airport to get back to its old level. In 2015 the Connector replaced an old tunnel between the terminal and Pier A.

March 22, 2016

The airport’s history also includes its darkest day. On March 22, 2016, two bombs exploded in the departure hall, and shortly afterward another one in a Brussels metro station. The attacks killed 32 people and injured many more. The airport stayed closed for almost two weeks and resumed operations on April 3 at greatly reduced capacity. Passenger numbers for 2016 were accordingly well below those of the previous year.

For you as a visitor, that mainly means one thing today: strict security rules apply around the terminal and on the access roads. If you are out in the public area with a big camera bag or tripod, expect checks and stay calm if you are approached. The actual spotting places are outside anyway, at the runways.

Three runways, one runway allocation system

Brussels has three runways. Two of them run parallel in an east-west direction, and the third crosses them as a crosswind runway running north-south. That is convenient for spotters, because the shots change with the wind and time of day – you just need to know where best to stand at any given moment. How runway numbers come about is explained in the article on runway designations.

Which runway is used for what is set by a runway allocation system that takes into account not only the wind but also time of day and day of the week. The reason is aircraft noise over the densely populated municipalities around the airport and over Brussels itself – the distribution of flight routes has been a permanent political dispute in Belgium for decades, between Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region.

In everyday terms: operations are mostly to the west. Departures then run mainly over 25R, and landings come in on 25L and 25R. With a northeast wind, operations switch to the 07 runways, and in certain wind conditions aircraft also land on 01 or depart from 19. Check the actual distribution live shortly before you set off, for example with a flight tracker – how that works is in the article on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Brussels Airlines and TUI fly Belgium

Two Belgian airlines shape the scene in Zaventem. The most important is Brussels Airlines, which emerged in 2002 as SN Brussels Airlines from the remains of Sabena and today belongs entirely to the Lufthansa Group. It has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2009. By its own account, the airline operates about 46 aircraft in 2026 – on short and medium-haul routes with the Airbus A319, A320 and A320neo, and on long-haul with the Airbus A330-300.

The long-haul side is the most exciting part. Within the Lufthansa Group, Brussels Airlines is the Africa specialist and serves numerous destinations south of the Sahara. The A330s with the dotted “b” on the tail that return from Africa in the morning are something you won’t see at any other European hub in such density.

The second home airline is TUI fly Belgium, the Belgian leisure airline of the TUI Group. Its fleet consists of Boeing 737-800, 737 MAX 8 and a few Embraer E195-E2. TUI fly Belgium has since given up long-haul flying with the 767 and 787 – so anyone who still has those jets in their logbook owns a closed chapter.

Who else lands in Brussels

Besides the two home airlines, numerous European network airlines fly to Brussels, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, LOT and Aegean Airlines. Add to that low-cost and leisure airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, Volotea, SunExpress and Corendon Airlines.

On long-haul, the big Gulf carriers are present: Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways. Across the Atlantic fly, among others, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Air Canada and Air Transat. Airlines from Asia and Africa join in, such as Singapore Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines or RwandAir, as well as Turkish Airlines with its connections to Istanbul.

Which airlines serve which routes at any given time changes with every schedule change. As of October 2026 the picture is colorful, but not set in stone – check the airport’s arrivals board before a targeted visit.

Brucargo: cargo in the north

North of the runways lies Brucargo, the airport’s cargo zone. It went into operation in 1980, extends over more than 100 hectares across the municipalities of Melsbroek and Diegem, and has its own parking positions for freighters. A large share of the cargo flies in the bellies of passenger jets, with pure freighters on top of that.

The cargo airlines that regularly serve Brussels include the cargo divisions of Singapore Airlines, Ethiopian, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Turkish Airlines. For you that means widebody freighters like the Boeing 777F are part of normal traffic in Brussels. How to tell freighter versions of passenger aircraft apart is explained in the article Identifying freighters.

Brussels used to be even more cargo-focused. Until 2008 DHL ran its European hub here, but moved it to Leipzig/Halle Airport after Belgium did not permit additional night cargo flights because of noise. Cargo volumes in Brussels dropped sharply as a result.

Melsbroek: military on the same runways

The north side of the grounds belongs to the Melsbroek military airfield. The 15th Air Transport Wing of the Belgian Air Component is stationed here and has flown the Airbus A400M since 2020. The military aircraft take off and land on the same runways as scheduled traffic – so with a bit of luck you’ll see the gray transport right between two A320s.

Then there are flights connected to Brussels’ role as a political capital. Key EU institutions sit here, and the NATO headquarters is only a few kilometers from the airport. Around summits, government aircraft from all over the world land, from business jets to widebodies. How to find such flights in advance is covered in the article Spotting government aircraft.

Spotting in Brussels: the official platforms

Brussels Airport is one of the airports that not only tolerate spotters but set up dedicated places for them. The most important is the platform at 25L on Tervuursesteenweg in Steenokkerzeel. A wooden deck and a grass hill sit right at the fence, landings on the main landing runway touch down almost in front of you, and you can see the control tower in the background. Ladders are allowed on the deck, but not on the hill next to it. A bus stop with the fitting name “Nossegem Spottersplatform” is right at the door.

The second official platform is in the Vliegbos, a small forest near the runway 01 threshold. From there you see landings on 01 and departures from several runways. It is the logical complement when little is happening at 25L. You’ll find further approach points in the center of Steenokkerzeel at 25R and at the approach lights of 25L.

All vantage points with light, directions and rules are described in the spot guide to the Steenokkerzeel spotter zone.

Light and daily rhythm

The parallel runways lie in an east-west direction, and the platform at 25L looks onto the runway from the south. That puts the sun behind you or to the side in the morning; in the late afternoon you’re better off switching to the north side or to the approach points of 25R. With the article on the sun position at the photo spot you can plan this exactly for your date.

Traffic comes in waves. The morning is busiest, when the Brussels Airlines Africa flights return and the European rotations depart. Around midday it gets quieter, before the next wave follows in the afternoon and evening. Night flights in Brussels are limited by noise rules; details change with political decisions, and for photos the night hardly matters anyway.

Brussels compared

In the Benelux region, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is much bigger and more focused on long-haul; KLM shapes the picture there. Brussels is smaller but more varied – thanks to the military, EU politics and Africa traffic. If you want to combine both airports on one trip, Amsterdam’s Polderbaan is the matching counterpart.

From a German perspective, Brussels is a short trip. Compared with Frankfurt Airport or Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, there is less going on here, but the paths to the spot are short and the platforms are clearly regulated. The article The best spotting spots in Europe collects more destinations for a spotting trip.

Conclusion

Brussels-Zaventem Airport lives not on sheer size but on variety. Brussels Airlines with its Africa A330s, TUI fly Belgium, freighters at Brucargo, A400Ms from Melsbroek and government aircraft around EU and NATO summits mean you rarely get the same shot twice.

The fact that the operator has set up its own spotting platforms makes getting started easy. As always, preparation is what counts: check the runway direction in use, use the morning light and sort out your trip to the platform beforehand.