Brussels South Charleroi Airport Aéroport de Charleroi Bruxelles Sud |
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner | Government of Walloon Region | ||||||||||
Operator | Société Wallonne des Aéroports | ||||||||||
Serves | Charleroi, Belgium | ||||||||||
Focus city for | Ryanair | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 614 ft / 187 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 50°27′36″N 004°27′10″E / 50.46000°N 4.45278°ECoordinates: 50°27′36″N 004°27′10″E / 50.46000°N 4.45278°E | ||||||||||
Website | charleroi-airport.com | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Belgium | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2015) | |||||||||||
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Sources: Belgian AIP
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Passengers | 6,956,000 |
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Change 14-15 | 8.01% |
Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA), also called Charleroi Airport or Gosselies Airport, (IATA: CRL, ICAO: EBCI) is an international airport, located in Gosselies, a part of the city of Charleroi. The airport is 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) north of Charleroi and 46 km (29 mi) south of central Brussels, in Wallonia (Belgium). The Aéropole, one of the Science Parks of Wallonia, is located near the airport.
The first aeronautical activities in Gosselies date back to 1919 as a flying school, then aeronautical maintenance activities the following year. The British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation settled a subsidiary Avions Fairey on the site (then known as Mont des Bergers) in 1931.
During World War II, the site was arranged as an Advanced Landing Ground (A-87) for the allied air forces, from 14 September 1944 until 10 August 1945.
Gosselies airfield became a public aerodrome after World War II, but the main activities of the site remained aeronautical constructions (installation of SABCA in 1954, then SONACA in 1978, taking the place of Fairey).
In the 1970s, the Belgian national airline Sabena launched a Liège–Charleroi–London service, but this was soon dropped because of poor results. Gosselies was left with almost no passenger traffic, the airport being mainly used for private or pleasure flights, training flights and occasional charters to leisure destinations around the Mediterranean Sea or to Algeria.