Forum 2040: open dialogue on Brussels Airport's future

Brussels Airport’s Strategic Vision 2040 is preparing the airport and Belgium for the future. What is essential here is that the impact of this on the environment is balanced with the economic potential and the social development of the airport. To achieve this, Brussels Airport has chosen to hold an open and structured dialogue with a group of neighbouring residents, local administrations, representatives of action groups, civil society organisations, airport companies and experts. This dialogue has been dubbed 'Forum 2040'.

During four thematic dialogue sessions, which were held in the autumn of 2017, 80 participants discussed the following themes: mobility, environmental impact, evolution of employment, landside and airside developments. Various experts attended these sessions to introduce these themes from the angle of their specific field of expertise. Discussions then took place in three smaller groups about subareas in order to delve deeper into specific aspects of the vision 2040 and thus obtain sharper insight into the various positions of all stakeholders.

Honorary-Ambassador Lode Willems acted as moderator for these discussions. The participants could ask for explanations about the content of the Strategic vision 2040 and could put forward their opinions and suggestions. In this way, the Vision has been enriched and refined with external insights, arising from the various sessions. More details about the dialogue sessions are given below.  

Plenary opening session 

On 22 June 2017, all 230 candidates were invited to the opening sessions of Forum 2040. Brussels Airport Company briefly explained the Strategic Vision 2040 and also how Forum 2040 would proceed. All participants were also able to ask questions at length.

Dialogue session 1: mobility 

The first session with the 80 selected participants was held on 27 September 2017. The theme of mobility was introduced by Tractebel, an engineering agency specialised, among other things, in environmental impact studies. 

Read the report of Forum 1.

Consult the presentation by Tractebel* (Dutch/French).

Dialogue session 2: air noise 

The thematic session on 25 October 2017 was about airside developments at Brussels Airport. A technical explanation of the impact of the Strategic vision 2040 on air noise was given by TO70, an independent consultancy specialised exclusively in aviation. 

Read the report of Forum 2. 

Consult the presentation by TO70* (Dutch/French).

Dialogue session 3: spatial planning, air quality and ground noise 

On 22 November 2017, the group met for a third time to discuss the themes of spatial planning, air quality and ground noise. Tractebel explained the possible impact on air quality, and VITO (Flemish Institute for Technical Research) explained in greater detail the possible impact of ultra-fine particles (UFPs). VITO is an independent European research organisation in the area of sustainable development. Leuven University gave a presentation about ground noise and Arcadis - an international consultancy and study agency active in urban and natural environments - provided information about possible impact on spatial planning. 

Read the report of Forum 3. 

Consult the presentations by Tractebel (Dutch/French), Arcadis (Dutch/French) and Leuven University (Dutch/French)*.

Dialogue session 4: landside developments

The last dialogue session took place on 20 December 2017 and concentrated on the landside developments of the airport. During this presentation, the focus was mainly on job creation and the economic added value of the airport in the future. 

Read the report of Forum 4.

Plenary session

The entire group of 230 candidates was invited to attend a plenary session of Forum 2040 on 21 February 2018. During this session, a résumé was made of the previous thematic sessions. Honorary-Ambassador Lode Willems clarified his conclusions (Dutch/French) during the meeting. Brussels Airport Company will now further analyse and evaluate various points from the thematic sessions. In CEO Arnaud Feist's speech (Dutch/French) you can find the five most frequently asked questions and/or suggestions.

Consult the report of the plenary session.

The airport will continue to keep the dialogue open and invites everybody with a question or idea about the Strategic Vision 2040 or Forum 2040 to contact us through the website or our social media channels. Frequently asked or specific questions will be published together with an answer on this page. Brussels Airport is committed to keeping everybody informed about the various subjects.

*The presentations/impact studies were made in the context of the Strategic vision 2040 and not in response to a defined project.