Diamond Award of Brussels Airport goes to the 3,500 employees of Brussels Airlines

Following the annual tradition, Brussels Airport Company has presented for the 11th time the Brussels Airport Aviation Awards. With these awards, the airport wants to honour the airlines and partners which, during the past year, have distinguished themselves in the area of punctuality and performance, environment and safety, development of the network and new routes. This year, the new ‘logistic provider award’ is being presented for the first time, next to the biennial Diamond Award.

CEO of Brussels Airport Company Arnaud Feist is pleased to present the Diamond Award to all 3,500 employees of Brussels Airlines. It is the 5th time the Diamond Award is presented and it honours a person or organisation that has consistently contributed to the successful development of Brussels Airport.

“In recent years, Brussels Airlines has been one of the fastest growing airlines in Europe, with a growth at Brussels Airport from 5 million passengers in 2010 to 9.1 million in 2017. The intercontinental network has been extended from sub-Sahara Africa to North America and India. Furthermore, membership of Star Alliance has brought many other intercontinental airlines to Brussels Airport. Brussels Airlines is also the flying ambassador of Belgium. Initiatives such as Hi Belgium and the aircraft with Belgian icons make the airline highly recognisable abroad and thus make an important contribution to tourism in Belgium. With the Diamond Award, we want to thank all 3,500 employees of Brussels Airlines for all the daily efforts to achieve this fantastic performance.”

The Network Development Awards go to airlines that start new routes or have achieved a significant growth in passengers or cargo.

  • Network Development Award Short Haul Airline: Air Arabia Maroc
  • Last year, Air Arabia Maroc added Fez to its network and generated a growth of 20% in the number of passengers. With 4 direct destinations in Morocco, Brussels Airport is one of their largest European hubs.
  • Network Development Award Long Haul Airline: Hainan Airlines
  • Since October, Hainan Airlines operates three direct flights per week to the new Chinese destination Shanghai. On 20 March, two weekly flights to Shenzhen will be added.
  • Network Development Award Cargo Airline: DHL Aviation
  • In 2017, DHL Aviation opened the new ‘state of art’ hub at BRUcargo and also operated more flights in the last year.
  • Brucargo Award: Belgian customs
  • The Belgian customs receive the Brucargo Award for all its initiatives and the collective projects to improve processes at Brucargo.
  • Logistic Provider Award: Panalpina
  • The new ‘logistic provider’ award honours the logistic service provider which, in the past year, has distinguished itself in terms of growth or further development of its activities. The very first winner of this award is Panalpina, which has doubled its warehouse capacity, further digitised its services and has invested in the transport of perishable goods.

The second category of Awards is Environment and Safety. These awards are presented to airlines or partners which have made a special contribution to the environment and to the continuous improvement of safety standards and awareness.

  • Environment Award: TUI fly
  • TUI fly has placed a large order for the new generation Boeing 737MAX. The first one landed at Brussels Airport on 30 January and in 2018 TUI fly Belgium will be operating four of these exceptionally quiet aircraft. They will also be adding a second Boeing 787 to the long-haul fleet.
  • Safety Award: Brussels Airfuels Services
  • Brussels Airfuels Services has a pro-active and constructive collaboration on all aspects of safety on the airport territory. It is not the first time that Brussels Airfuels Services has claimed this award; it won the award earlier in 2009.

The Performance and Punctuality Awards are presented to the passenger and cargo airlines that perform both well and punctually. Punctuality is the best on-time performance, i.e. with an arrival or departure within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. The performance for cargo is calculated based on the number of weekly flights, the number of destinations, total amount of cargo flown, cargo per flight and the growth in cargo tonnage.

  • Performance Award Cargo Airline: Ethiopian Airlines Cargo
  • Ethiopian Airlines Cargo performed exceptionally last year in the total amount of cargo flown, cargo per flight and growth in cargo tonnage.
  • Punctuality Award Short Haul Airline: Iberia
  • Iberia has a punctuality of 89% for the three daily flights to Madrid.
  • Punctuality Award Long Haul Airline: ANA
  • All Nippon Airways has a punctuality of 92% for their daily flight to Tokyo.

 

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About Brussels Airport

Brussels Airport is one of the most important airports in Europe. In 2025, Brussels Airport welcomed 24.4 million passengers and transported 795,000 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 2026, the airport offers direct connections between Belgium and 205 destinations worldwide, with flights operated by 83 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 its SHIFT 2027 strategy 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 between PMV and private investors (75%) and FPIM/SFPI (25%). 

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Contact

Press Office Brussels Airport Company Luchthaven Brussel Nationaal 1M 1930 Zaventem

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media@brusselsairport.be

www.brusselsairport.be