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Antwerp Airport faces uncertain future as subsidies, TUI exit and new business model collide

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Government backs five-year test for Deurne Airport

The future of Antwerp International Airport (ANR) is increasingly uncertain as the Flemish Government defends continued public funding while the airport prepares for the departure of its last major scheduled airline, TUI Fly. The French operator Egis is being given a new five-year framework to make the airport more financially sustainable, while its management is looking for new sources of income and new airlines.

The debate intensified this week in the Flemish Parliament, where Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) defended the new financing agreement for Antwerp and Ostend airports. Coalition partners Vooruit and CD&V backed the minister, despite strong opposition from Groen and PVDA.

Under the new agreement, Antwerp International Airport, aka Antwerp City Airport, aka Deurne, will receive around €22.8 million in operating subsidies between 2025 and 2029 for items including firefighters, security staff, training, uniforms and other operating costs. That is 4.4% less than in the previous five-year period. Subsidies for investments in security and fire-fighting equipment, however, rise by 49% to €3.6 million.

A further €15 million will be spent on maintaining the runway, taxiways, control tower, fire station and other infrastructure, down 11% from the previous period. Taken together, the various subsidies for Antwerp Airport are around 4% lower than in 2020-2024.

That reduction is considerably smaller than the 29% cut announced for Ostend Airport. The figures have prompted questions from opposition politicians, who argue that the size of the reduction depends partly on how previous investment subsidies are calculated.

At the same time, Egis will pay substantially more to the Flemish Government’s airport development company, LOM, for operating the two airports. The concession fee is rising by 144% to €10.7 million for 2025-2029, almost three times the amount paid in the previous period.

De Ridder argues that the combination means taxpayers are better protected, while opponents point out that the concession payments go to LOM rather than directly into the Flemish Government’s budget. LOM uses the money, among other things, to repay loans linked to airport infrastructure.

Five years to prove the airport’s viability

Vooruit and CD&V nevertheless support the new arrangement. Vooruit’s Stephanie Vanden Eede said her party is not enthusiastic about subsidies for regional airports and would not regard the disappearance of Deurne as a disaster if the airport ultimately proves economically unviable.

The five-year agreement is therefore being presented as a test. By 2029, the airport will have to demonstrate that it can operate on a more sustainable economic basis. The Flemish Government will also have the possibility to reduce subsidies unilaterally when the agreement is reviewed.

For Vooruit, the coming years should also provide time to consider alternative uses for the airport site, including nature, affordable housing and employment, if the airport eventually proves unable to survive commercially.

The political dispute is further complicated by a settlement between the Flemish Government and Egis. The airport operator had claimed €14.8 million from the government, while the government had sought €12.1 million from Egis, partly relating to the repayment of salaries of government employees working at the airport.

The settlement involves the cancellation of certain debts and claims as well as the continuation of subsidies. The Inspectorate of Finance had concluded that Egis still owed money to Flanders, while it considered it uncertain whether a court would have ordered the government to pay Egis the amount it was claiming.

Groen MP Bogdan Vanden Berghe has called for the Court of Audit to examine whether the airport subsidies are being used for their intended purposes. He also wants the Flemish Parliament eventually to vote on the settlement.

TUI’s departure creates a major gap

The financial debate comes as Antwerp Airport faces a significant commercial challenge. TUI Fly will stop operating from Deurne after the winter 2026-27 season, concentrating its Belgian operations on Brussels and Ostend.

The loss is particularly significant because TUI’s flights from Antwerp have reportedly been more than 90% full. Aviation expert Luk De Wilde argues that the airline is leaving for strategic reasons rather than because its Antwerp operation is unsuccessful. TUI is moving towards larger Boeing aircraft, which cannot operate efficiently from Deurne’s relatively short runway.

He believes the gap could nevertheless be filled. Airlines operating smaller aircraft, such as Spanish carrier Binter with its Embraer fleet, could potentially serve Antwerp. De Wilde has also suggested that Brussels Airlines could lease Embraer aircraft for operations from Deurne.

The airport’s management is actively looking for alternatives. CEO Nathan De Valck says the organisation is examining additional commercial flights, higher customer fees, new tenants for hangars and offices, and a solar-power project that could generate electricity for both the airport and surrounding residents.

The airport has also begun an internal cost-efficiency exercise, although management says no decision has yet been made on a major new round of cuts.

Former Aviapartner chief brought in to find new revenue

Against this background, Philip De Coninck has been appointed interim business unit manager. The 61-year-old former managing director of Aviapartner Belgium had already been working behind the scenes as a consultant and has now been brought in to help find new revenue streams.

De Coninck sees his assignment as temporary, lasting several months, with the immediate objective of laying the foundations for the airport’s longer-term future.

The appointment follows the departure of operational director Stephane Pötgens and other personnel changes at the airport. Trade unions have warned that some employees have already chosen to leave amid uncertainty about a possible cost-cutting operation.

The challenge for De Coninck is therefore not simply to reduce costs but to replace income that will disappear when TUI leaves.

Business aviation provides a different model

One part of the airport’s business, however, is performing strongly: private and business aviation.

The Flying Group, one of the private aviation companies based at Deurne, has seen its revenue grow by around a quarter compared with its pre-pandemic level. The company manages about 50 private jets and employs around 250 people.

Founder and co-CEO Bernard Van Milders argues that business aviation should not be dismissed as a luxury service. He says around three-quarters of the company’s customers are businesses, including companies linked to the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and the pharmaceutical industry, which use private aircraft to get employees rapidly to destinations around the world.

He also argues that the airport’s business aviation sector could become increasingly important as smaller electric aircraft and eVTOLs emerge. Van Milders expects such aircraft to become commercially relevant within several years and believes Deurne could play a role because these smaller aircraft would not necessarily fit the operating model of larger airports such as Brussels.

Research by the University of Antwerp has previously estimated that Antwerp Airport supports around 400 full-time jobs and generates about €30 million in annual added value. That represents around 0.009% of total added value in Flanders.

Van Milders also believes the subsidy debate could be resolved in two very different ways. If scheduled passenger flights disappear, he argues, the airport could reduce the scale of subsidised services such as fire-fighting and security. Alternatively, the government could invest in the airport’s future by extending the runway and attracting more scheduled airlines.

Runway extension remains politically off the table

The runway is at the centre of the airport’s longer-term dilemma. At around 1.5 kilometres, it is too short for many larger modern Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Aviation experts argue that extending it by 200 to 300 metres could significantly expand the range of aircraft able to operate from Antwerp.

De Valck sees such an extension as potentially part of the solution, while Van Milders argues that it could allow the airport to handle up to half a million passengers a year and make the subsidy debate largely irrelevant.

For now, however, the Flemish Government is not considering an extension.

That leaves Antwerp Airport facing a difficult five-year test. It must cope with the loss of TUI, find new commercial activities and increase its own revenues while continuing to receive tens of millions of euros in public support.

The political compromise is effectively to keep the airport alive for now while giving it until 2029 to demonstrate that it has a viable future. Whether that future is built around scheduled passenger flights, business aviation, new technologies such as eVTOLs, or a fundamentally different use of the site remains unresolved.

Antwerp International Airport

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