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Liège Airport at Grâce-Hollogne, a few kilometres west of the city of Liège in Wallonia, is one of Europe's leading dedicated freight airports, home to ASL Airlines Belgium and a night-time hub for FedEx Express, Qatar Airways Cargo, Ethiopian Cargo and other heavy-freighter operators. For the simulator pilot it offers a pair of long, ILS-equipped hard runways and a busy round-the-clock cargo circuit that makes for an interesting contrast to the airport's now largely dormant passenger side.
Liège Airport (ICAO EBLG, IATA LGG) lies at Grâce-Hollogne, about 9 km west of the city of Liège in the Wallonia region of Belgium. Once known as Liège-Bierset Airport, it has developed into one of the busiest cargo airports in Europe, serving as the global hub for ASL Airlines Belgium (the former TNT Airways) and hosting scheduled and irregular freighter operations for carriers including FedEx Express, Qatar Airways Cargo, Ethiopian Cargo, CMA CGM Air Cargo and CAL Cargo Air Lines. For a sim pilot the field is notable for its very long runways, full ILS coverage and the steady flow of heavy freighter traffic operating through the night, giving a very different character to most regional European airports.
The airport sits at Grâce-Hollogne in Liège Province, Wallonia, roughly 9 km (6 miles) west of Liège itself, at coordinates 50.6364N 5.4428E and an elevation of 610 feet.
Liège has two parallel hard-surfaced, lit runways. The main runway, 04R/22L, is 11,330 feet long on the 04R threshold and 10,732 feet on the 22L threshold, and is served by ILS at both ends. The secondary runway, 04L/22R, is 7,659 feet long in both directions, is lit, and carries ILS on the 22R threshold.
Liège provides a full range of radio services: Approach and Delivery on 119.28 MHz, ATIS on 126.255 MHz, a clearance delivery/CLD frequency on 121.8 MHz, Ground on 118.13 MHz and Tower on 129.25 MHz. Both main runway thresholds (04R and 22L) and the 22R threshold of the secondary runway are equipped with ILS, supporting instrument approaches in poor weather, which is a regular requirement given the airport's heavy night cargo schedule.
The first terminal building on the site opened in 1930, and the airport was long known as Liège-Bierset Airport. Its location places it at the centre of the so-called golden triangle formed by Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, an area that handles the great majority of European air freight, and this geography has shaped the airport's development into a specialist cargo hub rather than a passenger gateway. By the late 2010s it had become the seventh-largest cargo airport in Europe and the largest in Belgium. The field has seen a small number of notable incidents: on 20 February 2021 a Longtail Aviation Boeing 747-400 freighter bound for New York JFK diverted to Liège after an engine fire shortly after departing nearby Maastricht Aachen Airport, with debris falling over the town of Meerssen and injuring two people on the ground. In January 2023, heavy snowfall delayed a Qatar Airways cargo flight carrying nine sloths on a stopover, and three of the animals died overnight, prompting criticism including from a Walloon government minister.
Liège Airport today operates as a major freight hub, open and operational seven days a week, around the clock, with dozens of cargo movements each night. It is the hub for ASL Airlines Belgium and hosts regular freighter services from carriers such as FedEx Express, FedEx Feeder, Qatar Airways Cargo, Ethiopian Cargo, CMA CGM Air Cargo, Air China Cargo, Air Canada Cargo and several others carrying general freight, express parcels, live animals and perishable goods including flowers. Scheduled passenger flights ended in January 2026 after TUI withdrew its long-standing services, though Air Baltic has announced seasonal passenger flights to the Canary Islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) beginning in late October 2026.
