The Brussels South Charleroi Airport inaugurated the expansion of its new terminal, which was designed by the aeronautics specialist firm AERTEC Solutions. Attending the inauguration were the Prime Minister of Wallonia, Paul Magnette, and the Belgian Ministers of Transport and Economy, François Bellot and Kris Peeters, respectively, in addition to the entire AERTEC Solutions team involved in the project. The result demonstrates that efficient airport terminal design does not require unlimited budgets: with passenger-oriented engineering, it is possible to create functional and comfortable spaces.
For AERTEC Solutions, sustainability also means combining knowledge with local technology to achieve the maximum in terms of efficiency.
The international engineering and consultancy specialising in aeronautics has developed one of the most ambitious projects in all of Europeat airports low cost medium-sized, with a global budget of £70 million. “It has been a real challenge for our team: we drew up the Master Plan, making all the growth assumptions, completely designed the infrastructure, and finally oversaw the execution of the works so that it would be operational by the end of this year,» states Martín Cardinaal, Head of Architecture at AERTEC Solutions. AERTEC not only drew up the Master Plan, but also took on the Airport project execution and management, ensuring the project was delivered on time and within budget.
The new terminal at Belgium's second-largest airport, budgeted at 11.5 million euros, has just over 6,000 m2 of space.2 on the surface, and it is the first phase of an ambitious plan that will lead to the airport practically doubling its surface area in the next 8 years. With the recently inaugurated works, the infrastructure has the capacity to serve up to eight million passengers within service level C established by IATA, although when all the actions envisaged by the Master Plan, also drawn up by AERTEC Solutions, are completed, it will be possible to reach more than 10 million passengers a year. In addition, the car park has also been significantly reinforced in terms of capacity, increasing it by some 3,000 m2.2 The road accesses have also been extended and improved.
The new design aims to be a continuation of the existing terminal and, given the latitude in which it is located, exploits all the possibilities of natural lighting as well as views towards the aircraft apron. The result is a terminal with a very modest budget, but with bright and pleasant spaces for the traveller, within a project that seeks to demonstrate that it is possible to make airports low cost people-oriented. "The working concept of AERTEC Solutions is based on the sustainable constructionSustainability is not only about using natural resources. For us, sustainability is also about combining our know-how with local technology to achieve the maximum in terms of efficiency," says Martin Cardinaal.
Another of the priority objectives of the project designed by AERTEC Solutions has been to improving the user experience Charleroi Brussels South Airport, ranked 4th in the ranking of the best airports in the world. low cost in the world, according to a study by Skytrax. The project has improved the design of four key spaces for the quality perceived by the travellerCheck-in, security control, passport control and baggage reclaim. One of the major challenges for AERTEC Soutions has been to ensure the compatibility of the terminal expansion works with the full operation of an airport that has been experiencing strong passenger growth in recent years. Likewise, and in response to medium-term traffic growth estimates, another of the premises has been to facilitate future expansions in line with passenger and airline demand.
AERTEC Solutions has not only developed the design of the new terminal, but has also carried out all of the preliminary studies necessary for the definition of the extension projectThe project has developed its Master Plan and has supervised the entire tendering process and execution of the works, which have been completed ahead of schedule. "Our design is not just good architectural design. Thanks to our know-how Throughout the airport's life cycle, we have met this challenge with all the guarantees, because there are many very good architects, but not so many who know airport architecture," concludes the project manager.
This important work in Belgium adds to the extensive experience that AERTEC Solutions has accumulated in international airport projectsThe company has been present in countries such as Colombia, Panama, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, among others. Its capacity to intervene globally in the complete cycle of engineering, design and execution of airport infrastructures has led the Spanish company to position itself as one of the world's leading companies in this field. the best technological ally at 100 international airports in 40 countries.
