Bit late, but EBCI is your best bet. All the services you need, 7EUR/tonne landing, and if budget is really an issue it’s less than 10EUR to the other side and then about 14EUR on the buses (every 30 minutes) to central Brussels.
That’s where we keep our machine…
Sorry, might have been more useful a month ago!
Brussels is traffic hell, worst place in Europe. You can easily spend 2h or more on the highway and ring road when coming from Kortrijk/Antwerp or anywhere else.
Taxi to Kortrijk railway-station for about 13 euro good train connections to Brussels via Gent
I asked the same question a year ago, as I sometimes need to go to Brussels for work.
If the weather is VFR, your best bet is Grimbergen EBGB. Daytime only, but cheap and quite close to the city center.
I suggest you call a cab as soon as you land, as it takes a while for the taxi to arrive.
If the weather is below VFR, Antwerpen EBAW seems to be the best alternative.
Or Charleroi, but I don’t have experience with it myself…
Yes, there are some hours of the day when the motorways around Brussels are totally saturated, but two hours sounds like very much; unless of course some accident has happened, and they are indeed rather frequent, often with truckers from Eastern Europe involved. When I drive a car into Brussels on a working day, I try to be at my destination by seven o’clock. But the Dutch “Randstad” (Amsterdam, Den Haag, Leiden, Rotterdam) must be a good deal worse, if I may believe my Dutch colleagues.
Regarding Kortrijk, I agree it takes too long to get to Brussels from there – but EBSG Saint Ghislain as someone suggested must be worse, still less facilities and located in a forgotten out-corner of the world. A nice field, though, with an excellent restaurant.
To my knowledge, there is no way to get a rental car at Kortrijk. There was one company (Hertz) that would bring a car to the airport but they made some bad experience and stopped doing it as they told me.
Brussels is traffic hell, worst place in Europe. You can easily spend 2h or more on the highway and ring road when coming from Kortrijk/Antwerp or anywhere else.
Kortrijk (EBKT) is an hour from Brussels by car (when no traffic).
The issue is to take a car on the plane.
With the train it is 1:41 + time to get to the station.
That will be more than 2hrs, not what I call a local airport.
Kortrijk (EBKT) is an hour from Brussels by car (when no traffic). IFR, avgas, 25 eur landing fee, no mandatory handling…
[just making some publicity of my home base while seconding all above info]
I would take EBAW ifr + vfr. Small international airport with support. Friendly ATC. Not too expensive. Bus and train nearby
EBGB, only vfr, strict PPR and procedures. Small field, in the ctr of Brussels.
EBCI: sometimes very busy with long taxi-times. Otherwise ok.
EBLG: Friendly ATC. International.
Good info, but for my taste, that’s too much in the “all is bad” category.
If one starts to worry about “lack of security service” (in Central Europe), then there is no hope I’m afraid.
Just my pov.
Summary: there is no good way
Avgas;Landing fees;landing and parking;commute;local language
EBCI: self service with your credit card;cheap;safe; uneasy as you land south side and all the public transportation is north side uber does not go there as far as I know; French
EBAW: I don’t think it works with your BP or credit card any more, you have to find the guy who might be otherwise busy with the JET A1 truck; cheap but don’t stay 24hours without paying, they might charge you 150euros; safe; easy with taxis, buses to the station easily available, taxi to Brussels around 130euros, bus + train around 10euros; Dutch (and I’ve been bullied many times there because of my French accent when I speak English and my inability to speak Dutch, it’s so unpleasant that I don’t fly there anymore).
EBBR: no; 600 euros all in with mandatory handling (quotation on the phone 3 months ago); safe but long taxi, regulated in IFR so you must get a slot; at the general aviation terminal you can get a taxi or Uber, 20-30 mn if the traffic is normal, I don’t remember the price; Dutch but as it’s close to Brussels, they are not so touchy about it, and of course they speak English too.
EBGB: I’ve never been there, mainly because of the language issue, I’m not sure you might find a hangar space for your plane, and I don’t know if it’s safe to leave your plane overnight, as I don’t think there is any security, I don’t think that any taxi driver in Brussels has ever heard of that airfield (a personal survey over many years). NOT a port of entry from the UK
EBSG Saint Gishlain: you must ask for the key card at the tower;cheap; short but doable, PPR, if you call in advance you would normally get a hangar space, don’t leave your plane outside, there is no security there; uber does not normally get there, you can generally get a lift to the station or call a taxi (wait 20 30 mn), 2 trains to Brussels Midi an hour (40mn), if you take a taxi go to Mons station not Saint Ghislain station, there are trains more often; French. NOT a port of entry from the UK, my favorite as people there are usually very helpful and relax, unfortunately it’s not a port of entry, and the guy in the tower being generally a volunteer, you cannot demand much.
