Liège Airport

If you love freighters, there’s hardly any way around Liège in Western Europe. The airport at Bierset is no place for passengers – since January 2026 there has been no regular scheduled service there – but it is one of the most important transshipment points for air cargo on the continent. On the long main runway jumbo freighters, Boeing 777Fs, 737 freighters and the occasional exotic land, around the clock. If you know how the runway, wind and schedule interact, you get subjects here that you hardly find at passenger airports.

From a military field to a cargo hub

For a long time the field’s history was a military one. For decades Bierset was a base of the Belgian air force; civil traffic played only a minor role. A first handling building was built in 1930 for the Liège World’s Fair, and a new terminal followed in 1976 – but it never became a big airport. Only in the early 2010s did the military withdraw completely.

The decisive turn came at the end of the 1990s. The express carrier TNT was looking for a central transshipment point for its European parcel network and chose Liège: lots of room, a long runway, operations at night and a location in the middle of the triangle between Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. The contract was signed in 1996, and by the end of the 1990s the nightly parcel waves were running through Bierset. The airline TNT Airways later became ASL Airlines Belgium, which is still at home in Liège today and belongs to the Irish ASL Aviation Holdings.

When FedEx took over TNT Express in 2016, Liège became part of the FedEx network. In early 2021 FedEx then announced it would concentrate its European business more at Paris Charles de Gaulle and scaled back activities in Liège. That the airport kept growing anyway was due to a new customer from China.

Cainiao and the e-commerce boom

In 2018 Cainiao, the logistics subsidiary of the Chinese online group Alibaba, chose Liège as its European hub. In the fall of 2021 a hall of its own of about 30,000 square meters went into operation there. Since then large volumes of online orders from China have run through Liège, where they are cleared through customs, sorted and distributed across Europe by truck or connecting flight. According to the airport, more than 1.35 billion e-commerce parcels passed through the airport in 2025.

This boom was a key driver of the record year 2021 with about 1.41 million tonnes of cargo; in the two following years volumes fell. In 2024 and 2025 Liège then grew significantly again: 2025 saw about 1.32 million tonnes, up about 14 percent and the second-best result in its history. According to the operator, that was the strongest growth among Europe’s large cargo airports.

Since July 1, 2026, a levy of €3 has applied in the EU to imported small shipments with a goods value under €150. The airport has since reported a 42 percent slump in small parcels and fewer pure e-commerce flights. Over the whole year, Liège is holding up well anyway: by the end of September 2026 about 1.03 million tonnes had accumulated, a good seven percent more than in the same period of the previous year – mainly thanks to strongly growing exports.

One main runway, two directions

The layout is quickly explained. Two parallel runways run from southwest to northeast. The main runway 04R/22L is about 3,690 meters long and carries practically all the heavy traffic. The 04L/22R to the north of it measures 2,340 meters and plays hardly any role for freighters. On the south side are the terminal, hotel and large cargo aprons; another cargo zone has been built north of the runways.

The wind decides which direction is in use. When it blows from the southwest, takeoffs and landings run toward 22 – the aircraft then land coming from the northeast, that is from the direction of Liège, and take off toward the southwest. In northeast winds 04 is in use. For choosing your location this is the most important question of the day; the basics are explained in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Who flies at Liège

Unlike at many cargo airports, there is no single user dominating everything at Liège. According to the operator, the largest customer accounted for about 13 percent of the volume in 2025, and the next three each for less than ten percent. At the end of 2025 the airport counted 56 airlines as customers – significantly more than two years earlier.

ASL Airlines Belgium is firmly anchored with its 737 freighters such as the Boeing 737-800BCF and widebody freighters. FedEx still flies to Liège, though on a smaller scale than in TNT days. The cargo divisions of Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines bring Boeing 777Fs to the Meuse, joined by Challenge Airlines, CMA CGM Air Cargo, MNG Airlines, Atlas Air and cargo airlines from China such as Air China Cargo.

The highlights are the jumbos. The Boeing 747-400F and the 747-8F are part of everyday life at Liège, both in scheduled service and on charters. Just as typical are the Boeing 767-300F and converted widebody jets. With a bit of luck you catch ad hoc flights by companies like Antonov Airlines with the An-124 or Air Atlanta Icelandic. Which airline comes with which type changes quickly, though – charter freighters appear and disappear again.

How integrators, scheduled freighters and charters differ and why that matters for you as a spotter is explained in the article on the Express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

The end of passenger traffic

For a long time Liège was also a small leisure airport. Since 2016 only TUI’s leisure airline had flown in scheduled service – first under the name Jetairfly, later as TUI fly Belgium – mainly to the Mediterranean. In July 2025 TUI announced it would leave Liège after about 30 years; on January 4, 2026, the last regular flight ended. In 2025 the airport still counted just under 140,000 passengers, about 15 percent fewer than the year before.

Economically that is a footnote for the airport: according to the operator, passenger traffic most recently contributed only about 1.5 percent of revenue. The terminal of 2005 remains in operation for individual charter and seasonal offerings, and the airport is working on new connections. What is currently flying is on the airport’s departures and arrivals page.

For spotters this has a clear consequence: Liège is now a pure freighter airport. If you’re looking for passenger jets in colorful liveries, you’d do better to go to Brussels or Charleroi.

Spotting in Liège: fence, hill, ladder

There’s no observation deck at Liège. Instead, spotters stand at fences, on small hills and at meadows around the main runway. The advantage: the runway is positioned so that you find locations on both sides – on the southeast side with light in the morning, on the northwest side near Bierset with light in the late afternoon and evening, especially in summer.

Known locations are the meadow on Rue de l’Aéroport in the area of 04R, a hill near the airport hotel with a view of landings on 22L, a rise by the general aviation building, a hill near Bierset at the 22L threshold and a field path for heavy takeoffs toward the southwest. If you like it comfortable, book a room at the airport hotel with a view of the runway and apron. All locations with light, directions and ladder requirements are described in the spot guide to the spotting places at Liège Airport.

A few locations are at or on private land, such as at truck parking lots of freight forwarders. Spotter guides report that security staff occasionally ask people to leave there. Stay on clearly public land, don’t block access roads and leave when asked.

Night operations and the daily rhythm

Liège is open around the clock, and you notice it. According to the operator, about 60 flights take off and land per night. The share of night flights has fallen sharply, though: in 2020 it was still 59 percent according to the airport, in 2025 about 34.5 percent. In the daytime there is now significantly more going on than in the TNT era, when the parcel waves ran mainly between midnight and early morning.

For your planning that means: in the daytime you have a well-mixed stream of scheduled freighters and charters, but no rigid waves as at a passenger hub. The early morning hours are worth it in summer, because some night arrivals then land in daylight. In winter a lot of traffic is in the dark – ideal if you like night shots. Tips on exposure, tripod and light trails are in the article Photographing aircraft at night.

Getting there

By car, Liège is quickly reached from Aachen, Cologne and Maastricht: the airport lies directly on the E42 motorway, about nine kilometers west of downtown Liège. Without a car, take TEC express bus line 57 from Liège-Guillemins station to the airport; lines 83 and 85 run toward Bierset and thus to the spots on the northwest side. Timetables and stops can change – check them before you leave.

Because the spots are far apart and there is hardly any infrastructure, a car is the more convenient choice for a spotting day in Liège. Bring water and food; at most locations there is nothing nearby.

Liège compared

In the three-country border region, several cargo airports lie close together. Maastricht Aachen Airport is only a short drive away and also has a cargo focus; with the spotting place there a day in Liège combines well. Cologne/Bonn Airport is a big hub for express cargo and lies about an hour and a half away by car.

The obvious German comparison is Leipzig/Halle Airport. There a single integrator, DHL, dominates, and the main wave is at night. Liège is more broadly positioned: many airlines, many types, more traffic in daylight. If you know both, you understand how differently cargo airports work. For equipment, the equipment checklist helps.

Conclusion

Liège is the counter-model to the classic spotting airport. There’s no deck, hardly any passengers left and many spots only with a ladder. In return you get a density of widebody freighters that is unmatched in Western Europe: 747-400F and 747-8F, 777F, 767F, 737 freighters and the occasional exotic that hardly any other airport sees.

The numbers show that the airport also shrugs off setbacks – first FedEx pulling back, now the EU levy on small shipments. For you, in the end the same thing counts as everywhere: runway direction in use, light and a look at a flight tracker. If you sort that out beforehand, you’ll be standing at the right side of the runway at the right time in Bierset.