Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Brussels South Charleroi Airport (EBCI) lies at Gosselies on the northern edge of Charleroi in Wallonia, Belgium, and has grown from a quiet regional field into the country's principal low-cost hub. For the simulator pilot it offers a single long, ILS-equipped runway, full ATC coverage and an interesting history stretching from pre-war aviation through military and industrial use to its present role as a Ryanair base.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport, commonly known as Charleroi Airport, is an international airport at Gosselies, part of the city of Charleroi in Wallonia, Belgium. Once a modest field used chiefly for private, training and charter flying, it is now a busy hub for low-cost carriers, principally Ryanair, which opened its first continental European base there. The field is of interest to a simulator pilot both for its single substantial ILS runway and for the aviation-industrial character of the site, which also hosts a major military aircraft maintenance facility.
The airport sits at Gosselies, on the northern side of Charleroi, within Wallonia. Charleroi provides its own approach, tower and ground control services, indicating that the field lies within controlled airspace appropriate to a large regional international airport.
EBCI has a single paved, hard-surfaced runway aligned 06/24, lit for night operations. Published distances are 8356 ft when operating as runway 24 and 6889 ft when operating as runway 06. Runway 24 is equipped with an ILS. Field elevation is 587 ft, with the airport reference point at 50.46 N, 4.4528 E.
Charleroi provides a full suite of radio services: Charleroi APP on 133.125 MHz, an ATIS broadcast on 134.625 MHz, Charleroi GND on 121.8 MHz and Charleroi TWR on 121.3 MHz. Runway 24 is served by an ILS for instrument approaches.
The airfield at Gosselies had a long history of light and private flying before becoming a commercial airport. In the 1970s the Belgian national carrier Sabena briefly operated a Liège-Charleroi-London service, but this was dropped after poor results, leaving the field with almost no scheduled passenger traffic; it continued to be used mainly for private and pleasure flying, training flights, and occasional charters to Mediterranean and North African leisure destinations. On 9 July 1991 the company Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) was created to manage the site, part of the wider transfer of regional airport management from the Belgian state to the regions on 1 January 1992. Commercial management structures put in place during 1992 and 1993 began to take effect from 1995, and growth accelerated after the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair arrived in 1997, establishing its first continental European base at Charleroi. A runway extension was inaugurated on 8 October 2021 in the presence of the Walloon Minister for Airports, Jean-Luc Crucke. The site is also home to a SABCA facility that carries out depot-level maintenance, repair and overhaul work on United States Air Force F-16 aircraft based in Europe.
Charleroi is today a major base for low-cost scheduled traffic, with Ryanair and Wizz Air among the carriers operating from its single terminal. Alongside commercial passenger flying, the airport continues to host significant aviation-industrial activity, including F-16 maintenance work carried out by SABCA on site. Full air traffic control services are provided, and the field is equipped with an ILS approach to runway 24.
