Brussels Airport - General, Pressroom

Brussels Airport Company signs innovation partnership with PlugandPlay

Today Brussels Airport announces a partnership with PlugandPlay as anchor partner of the PlugandPlay Travel & Hospitality programme in Europe together with Vienna Airport, Star Alliance and Swissport. PlugandPlay is a global open innovation platform enabling, moderating and facilitating the collaboration between big and established corporations from the industry and start-ups. With this collaboration, Brussels Airport Company wants to drive open innovation within the Brussels Airport ecosystem and position itself as a key player in the Innovation for Aviation in Belgium and Europe.

As an innovative company, Brussels Airport understands the potential to engage in open innovation through co-creation and partnering. To maximize the benefit for its customers, Brussels Airport wants to engage in and structure initiatives to fully leverage the potential of the exciting period we are living in. At present, there is a unique opportunity to build and activate the wider airport ecosystem with all its partners, with Brussels Airport Company as digital host and facilitator of open innovation therein.

To boost the innovation program Brussels Airport Company has decided to team up with a world player in innovation facilitation. PlugandPlay is working on a global scale and is present in 5 continents. They run 50+ accelerator programs each year providing innovation for more than 300 major corporations. PlugandPlay invested in 2018 in 220 start-ups, 120 which are based in US, other investments in the Asian, European and Latin-American market. Importantly, PlugandPlay’s focus on the travel sector makes this a most relevant proposition considering Brussels Airport Company’s corporate venturing ambitions.

“We are delighted to announce our innovation partnership with PlugandPlay. This partnership is a clear sign of Brussels Airport’s ambition to continuously improve and innovate in order to deliver the best services to its clients, passengers and airlines. This will give us continuous access to the latest developments in all areas of aviation/airport business,” explains Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company.

Brussels Airport Company joins an innovation platform dedicated to travel, unique in Europe, with more than 30 worldwide partners in the travel sector, such as airports, airlines, hotels, travel agencies… PlugandPlay Travel & Hospitality Europe is an open innovation platform moderating an in-depth and curated collaboration between core partners from the industry, investment firms and mentors to help the growth of start-up companies. Together, Brussels Airport and PlugandPlay aim to create a seamless end-to-end travel experience for the more than 25 million passengers traveling through the airport every year.

"We are very excited about expanding Plug and Play’s travel and hospitality program into European Markets. We made this decision based on strong demand from existing travel related corporate partners with European HQs as well as new corporate partners such as Brussels airport. European travel startup ecosystem is growing rapidly and there is no shortage of travel suppliers, airports and service providers who can benefit from our open innovation platform”, Amir Amidi, Managing Partner at Plug and Play.

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About Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport is one of the most important airports in Europe. In 2024, Brussels Airport welcomed 23.6 million passengers and transported 733,000 tonnes of cargo through the airport. Brussels Airport caters for the specific needs of business travellers and holidaymakers alike, on both intra-European and long haul flights. In 2025, the airport offers direct connections between Belgium and 210 destinations worldwide, with flights operated by 80 airlines.   

The airport also offers a leading cargo platform, specialised in the transport of pharmaceutical products, perishable goods, e-commerce and live animals. Brussels Airport is the most important pharmaceutical hub in Europe with the largest area of temperature-controlled warehouses.  

With its SHIFT 2027 strategy, launched in 2022, Brussels Airport Company intends to strengthen its position as a major European hub, accelerate its ambitious sustainability goals, e.g. through the European Green Deal project Stargate, and continue to diversify its activities by focusing on innovation and cooperation.

Brussels Airport is the second most important economic engine in Belgium, good for 64,000 direct and indirect jobs and is owned and operated by Brussels Airport Company. The shareholders are a consortium of private investors (75%) and the Belgian State (25%).Follow Brussels Airport on Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.  

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www.brusselsairport.be