Antwerp Airport: who wins and who pays the bill?

According to the Flemish government, this support is necessary because the airport would create “economic added value” for the region. But what does that actually mean?

An initial study (Knack, 27/09/2025) examined whether Antwerp Airport really does create jobs and economic added value. Strikingly, the current subsidy policy is still based on figures from 2015. When members of parliament asked Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder for more recent data in early 2025, she replied that it did not exist. It was not until September that the minister admitted that her cabinet had had new figures at its disposal for months – but she dismissed them as of little use in parliament. However, these figures clearly show how employment and added value have evolved since 2015. And for Antwerp Airport, the picture is anything but rosy.

The second article in this dossier (Apache, 17/11/2025) examined whether the many private jet flights at Antwerp Airport are really essential to the Antwerp and Flemish economies, particularly for the port, petrochemical, diamond and pharmaceutical sectors. A thorough analysis of flight data shows little evidence that these sectors are the largest users, but does identify a number of other user profiles that have remained under the radar until now. The list of popular destinations also reveals clear patterns, casting further doubt on the business nature of many flights.

This article was produced as part of the International Research Journalism programme at Thomas More, with the collaboration of Joenah Malot and the support of Journalismfund's Pascal Decroos Fund.

Photo's: © Joenah Malot