Liège (Bierset) Airport Expansion, Belgium

With most airports in Europe trying to surpass all previous records for passenger numbers, Liège is somewhat of a rarity. Although it does handle passenger flights to 21 different cities (mostly charters) and has an excellent passenger terminal, its main business comes from handling cargo.

In fact the airport, situated to the northwest of Liège, is one of the pre-eminent cargo airports in Northern Europe (only the second largest cargo airport in Belgium, but the ninth in Europe) and is ideally placed to act as a stop-over hub since it is situated in the middle of the 'Golden Triangle' of airports (Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt) that handle over 66% of freight in Europe (75% of European freight if London is added in).

One of the main reasons for its success as a cargo facility must come from its use by TNT (the US courier) as its main European hub. The company managing the airport is (SAB) Société de Développement et de Promotion de l'Aéroport de Bierset (company for the development and promotion of Bierset Airport).

The airport was converted in 1990 from a military installation to a cargo facility as a joint venture between Société Régionale Wallonne des Transports (SRWT) and the airports authority for Paris and at that time SAB was created to undertake the management.

BUSINESS

The main cargo companies at the airport include TNT, CAL (Israel Cargo Airlines) (fruit, vegetables and flowers), KALITTA, El Al and Icelandair (fish) – in total there are more than 50 cargo customers.

The main passenger companies using the airport for flights are Thomas Cook Airlines and JetAirFly. Business at the airport is currently very good with 2006 figures for the airport recording a cargo tonnage of 406,444t, a 24.6% increase on 2005. The level of cargo business growth was the fourth highest worldwide after Portsmouth, Beijing and Nagoya. In September 2007 preliminary figures for cargo business at the airport recorded a growth of 17% compared with 2006.

LIÈGE AIRPORT FACILITIES

The airport has two parallel runways 05R/23L (10,784ft, 3,287m) and 05L/23R (7,677ft, 2,340m) both paved in asphalt. In April 2005, Liège Airport opened its new €26m passenger terminal. This had the effect of tripling the passenger capacity of the airport to one million passengers a year.

The 116m x 72m terminal is a fully glazed steel structured building with 12m-high steel columns and pre-stressed concrete beams. The gates all have a span of 36m and there is 8,350m² of floor space.

The façade of the building is composed of eight glazed units (each 160cm x 360cm) with a 'blade' separating each unit.

The architects were Greisch and the building contractor was Jacques Delens of the BESIX group. Construction took place between 2003 and 2005.

NEW PROJECTS

One of the most exciting new projects at Liège at the moment is the construction of the new TNT cargo terminal. The airport has been going through a period of change with a number of projects being completed such as the opening of the new Park Inn hotel at the airport and also airport infrastructure improvements such as the refurbishment of the main runway 05R/23L in only five weeks during 2006.

Currently Liège is constructing a series of new parking stands (apron) in the north of the airport for long-haul aircraft (four stands, including two capable of accommodating the A380, were completed in 2006, and six other stands (B747) will be completed by late 2007). In addition the airport is also extending its fuel storage capacity from one million litres to six million litres by the end of 2007.

Liège is also constructing a new freight park (lorry park, car park and docking and storage areas) on an 80ha site in the northern area of the airport (being developed as the 'cargo city Nord', first phase 6,250m² (investment of €6.1m) and second phase 12,000m²). The first phase of which will be completed by February 2008. The contractor for the hangar is Wust.

Liège has a goal to handle 800,000t of cargo by 2010. Further plans (feasibility) are being considered currently for a new runway.

TNT TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION

The TNT hub, owned by TNT Express worldwide, is one of the mainstays of Liège Airport and it was a boost to the airport when they decided to expand the facility. In 2004 the final investment decision was taken by TNT to spend €94m to expand the existing facility at Liège and actually double its floor space (construction costs estimated at €16.5m).

The expansion involves the construction of a new steel structure (steel frame and steel clad) adjoining the existing one that is 213m long and 93m wide (sorting zone 191m x 93m and technical zone 22m x 93m). The two buildings will actually be separated by a fire-resistant wall as part of building and safety regulations. The building will also include two intermediate levels in parts of the building suspended from the roof beams to increase storage space.

In addition part of the building (6,000m²) will be constructed from concrete to house the workshops and related areas. Equipment in the new hub will include a 1t goods lift and a 15t bridge crane. The new building will also be provided with a sophisticated surveillance system including closed-circuit cameras, fire detection, controlled access and intruder detection. There will also be an optical fibre network for internal communications.

The architects for the project were Bureau Canevas in conjunction with Greisch. The construction contractor for the hub is Galere and the facility is scheduled to open in November 2007.