Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Belgium has celebrated its 20th anniversary by releasing a special music anthem, composed by DJ Joss. The special song was unveiled earlier this month and appears on the new album of the musician, which is available in music stores across Europe. Proceeds from the album will go to RTBF charity Cap 48.
The song release is just one of a number of special events to mark the airport’s 20th anniversary year. The facility was first opened as a flying school in 1919, but commercial passenger traffic had been limited to private operations, training flights and the occasional charter to leisure destinations in the Mediterranean or North Africa.
This changed in 1991 with a revised commercial management structure and a rebranding as Brussels South Charleroi Airport. Since then the facility has grown, with Ryanair arriving in 1997, later to be joined by Wizz Air. More recently others have launched their own scheduled operations from the airport, including TUI Travel companies Jetairfly and Jet4you and Turkish charter provider Freebird Airlines.
“Brussels South Charleroi Airport incredibly changed since its creation in 1991! From an unknown regional airport, we have become today the second largest airport in Belgium, registering also passengers from The Netherlands, Luxemburg and Northern France,” said Jean-Jacques Cloquet, Chief Executive Officer, Brussels South Charleroi Airport. “210,727 passengers were registered in 1998 and we closed 2010 with a record of almost 5.2 million passengers; an increase of 2465 per cent in 12 years!”