CRL: Brussels South Charleroi Airport (Belgium)

Charleroi (Brussels South) CRL / EBCI .



Airport website :
http://www.charleroi-airport.com/doc.php?nd=o29&tid=29&lg=2&docid=1&site=1

The airport lies south of the small town of Gosselies, north of Charleroi - and some 65 km south of Brussels center.

One can reach it
- by car
In my opinion, until a new access is built from the highway, the easier way is to go as usual to the old terminal and then go on around the eastern end of the runway to the new terminal.
- by coach from Brussels
Brussels : the coach stop is rue de France, on the side of the "Bruxelles Midi" (Brussel Zuid) railway Station (rather far down the right side when looking at the front of the station).
There is a coach departing from Brussels at about one hour interval from 04.30 to 20.30 - and from CRL the same between 08.30 and 23.30.
Fare is at the moment (July 2013), one way :
- on the net : from 5 to 14 euros (maximum)
- 17 euros by the driver or at the vending machines






- by train
to Charleroi Sud + bus TEC


The terminal is open 24/24.
Landside, it houses, from "Arrival" to "Departure":
- the arrival door
- a pastry shop
- customs
- lost and found
- a bank automat
- a Jetair travel center
- a newspaper- and bookseller, with a good choice of aviation magazines - at the back, left.
- the airport information desk
- an Irish pub
- near door 2 : a balance to check your baggage weight
- the check-in and drop desks
- the door to the security check
- the "Airport ticket desk"
Airside, past the security check :
- a skyshop with all the customary goods on sale in such shops : perfumes, alcohols, fashion, watches, sunglasses, and so on - also a few books and magazines
- where to eat and drink something
- a newspaper stand
- and, of course, the boarding gates. (To the left, the passport control giving access to the gates for the non-Schengen destinations).
- with a goodview of the apron, all along
The apron is two floors down, by stairs or lift;
- gates 1 to 11 are at groung level
When arriving, the baggage claim area and the exit are two floors up.

Runway :
07/25
2550m x 45m (an extension of 650m, to 3200m, is planned)
ILS cat III, radar, VOR/DME
http://airport.wallonie.be/CharleroiAero.html

The (new) terminal :




The check-in desks :





You can check the weight of your luggage here :




And if overweight, you'll be requested by the drop-desk to pay the fee here !





The arrival hall :





The skyshop :










A few departure gates :






To the non-Schengen destinations :










From further on the right on the terminal, on can have a good view of aircraft coming in after landing :




... of aircraft going to the runway (behind, a light is landing on 07)




... and of the aircraft parking, in front of the terminal :




The terminal, as seen from a departing flight :


And from an arriving flight :



Runway 25 :



The beacon, near the 07 end of the runway :



View of the river Sambre, on the right after T-O from 25 :

OK, I'll visit CRL for the first time in 08 june. Has anyone got any tips about good places to sleep at the terminal building? We'll arrive at 2245 and leave at 0900 so sleeping at the middle of departure hall would not be good idea for us as we'd like to get some rest during this time
Also is there any good place to watch departing aircrafts during morning takeoffs? I saw some hills at the pictures above - is it far from the terminal building?
Two days later we have about 10 hours of stay at CRL. I'm thinking about Charleroi itself, or some area nearby? Could anyone recomend something for me? I mean some nice place to see, drink coffe, maybe eat some snack. I'm not thinking about something which get us tired as I'm traveling with my mother and this will be third day of our trip

Hi all, I will be paying a flying visit to Charleroi in september, If anyone can help i would like to know the best way to get into the city centre and the shopping area Charleroi'Rue de la Montagne' by bus? its only approx 7km away so not far might even get a taxi but i like using local transport get more of a feel to the place especially on such a short journey.. thought id ask who knows someone here may have done this trip before.

thanks

All belgian said that Charlerois is not a great city for tourism . Charlerois has a very bad reputation .

From the airport, there is a shuttle bus to the Charleroi Sud station. It's run by the "TEC", which run also the local buses, trams and metro. From the railway station, you just walk just across the river Sambre to reach the city center.
Charleroi is not what you would call a touristic "must", but it has its own charm, especially if you are interested by industrial archeology; there are also quite a few parks -but the streets are rather dangerous at night...

atoutprix wrote:From the airport, there is a shuttle bus to the Charleroi Sud station. It's run by the "TEC", which run also the local buses, trams and metro. From the railway station, you just walk just across the river Sambre to reach the city center.
Charleroi is not what you would call a touristic "must", but it has its own charm, especially if you are interested by industrial archeology; there are also quite a few parks -but the streets are rather dangerous at night...

Thank you for the information we will only be there for a few hours so sounds great, my wife will be travelling with me i guess Charleroi'Rue de la Montagne' will be part of the experience so i'm hiding my plastic or as some call it our flexible friend

msep003 wrote:All belgian said that Charlerois is not a great city for tourism . Charlerois has a very bad reputation .

I also have the same in my mind Unfortunatelly will probable visit this city in monday again...

we had a great day out and the sun shone

atoutprix wrote:Charleroi (Brussels South) CRL / EBCI .

(...) The terminal is open 24/24 (...)

I have one question about this quote.
Is it true that the terminal is open 24/24? The Charleroi Airport website tells us that the airport actually closes at 11PM.

http://www.charleroi-airport.com/en/b2b/presentation-of-the-airport/technical-details/index.html

according to ct56 (second post on the website below),

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/list.asp?region=1&country=Belgium&city=Brussels&terminal=South+Charleroi

also says that the airport closes at 11PM, but what I understand from his post, he actually slept in the airport even though it was closed.

My question is that is it possible now to sleep in the airport? Has anyone done that? Please comment if you like

Greetings antek

ps: Flying from Stockholm (Skavsta) (NYO) - Brussels (Charleroi)(CRL) 6jan10 19.05 - 21.15 and after that
Brussels (Charleroi) (CRL) - Lanzarote (ACE) 7jan10 06.40 - 09.55

The airport (runway) closes at 2300 (excepted for the CRL-based aircraft that are late and are allowed to land later than 2300) and opens at 0630 in the morning, when the first engines may be started.
Speaking of the terminal : when I posted that it was open 24/24, I had had the information by e-mail from the airport. If you want to be sure, you could email and ask them to confirm.

atoutprix wrote:The airport (runway) closes at 2300 (excepted for the CRL-based aircraft that are late and are allowed to land later than 2300) and opens at 0630 in the morning, when the first engines may be started.
Speaking of the terminal : when I posted that it was open 24/24, I had had the information by e-mail from the airport. If you want to be sure, you could email and ask them to confirm.

Okey thanks it just sounded so confusing that the runaway (and not the terminal!) closes at 11pm.

Then I can sleep at the airport

The CRL terminal seen after take-off from runway 07 (june 2010) :


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Just returned from here and saw this in the main dep terminal near the duty free shop Think Safe was meant



we stayed 1 night in a local hotel a few minutes from the airport(balladin) very good our room looked onto the main apron taxi way.runway and it was not that loud but was nice to see them land and take off ... we were offered a free bus shuttle but the next was in 1 hour so i asked a taxi driver how much for the trip... im not being funny but they are a law to themselves they make up a price and nothing seems legal to me .. the taxi driver whispered €20 .. for a 2 minute trip ... i phoned the hotel and they sent a taxi for €7..so beware best booking in advance.. i informed the staff at the information desk in arrivals they were aware but said nothing can be done ..scandalous.made me wonder if they were true registered taxi drivers.. was so corrupt.

There is a shuttle bus to/from Luxemburg since last summer :

From July 1st , FLIBCO ( shuttle to Luxembourg) will ensure connections to Charleroi airport.
From Metz, Thionville, Luxembourg and Arlon flibco.com will ensure 24 transfers per day.
Tickets will be on sale at http://www.flibco.com/search/new from 1st June.

That shuttle is rather succesful, it seems :
In French :
http://www.charleroi-airport.com/fr/raccourcis/detail-de-la-nouvelle/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=323&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=40&cHash=5fc4be121e
Le service de navettes entre l’aéroport de Bruxelles Sud Charleroi et la région du Luxembourg fonctionne depuis 6 mois. A l’heure actuelle, 5.000 passagers mensuels utilisent les navettes Flibco, chiffre en progression constante. Le succès est tel que leur fréquence a été augmentée, passant de 12 à 15 navettes quotidiennes, soit 30 allers et retours par jour, entre l’aéroport de Charleroi et Arlon, Luxembourg ville (3 arrêts), Thionville et Metz.

"5000 travellers per month take the Flibco buses; the number of daily shuttles has been raised from 12 to 15 return trips"

The airport magazine ("Gate") :

http://www.charleroi-airport.com/en/passengers/gate-magazine/last-publication/index.html

Building in progress at CRL : 4 new gates (on the west side, near gate 1):

http://beluxvacc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:ebci-charleroi-brussels-south-&catid=15:charts&Itemid=12


For the aviation enthusiast.

My first flight with Ryanair was on a college study tour in 1999 going DUB-CRL on one of the old Boeing's which had as I remember a really tight seat pitch because my knees were stuck up against the forward seat. As I remember at the time the terminal was not much more than a shed. I have used the newer terminal since.

4 new gates for Brussels South Charleroi Airport (Miss Belgium was at the airport for the opening)

http://www.charleroi-airport.com/raccourcis/detail-de-la-nouvelle/index.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=416&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=40&cHash=10eb112af9

The new gates :





They are at ground level, not on the first floor like the other gates.

New policy as regards hand luggage at Charleroi ?
Seems one can bring aboard a bag from the tax-free shops in additions to the usual hand baggage ... notwithstanding the Ryanair rule !









At any case, it's so advertised in the airport magazine (nice cover, isn't ?)

Hmm - Some Airports allowing 2 Bags and some will not- problably another senario for confusion and angry passengers. I think it would be better if airports have a universal approach.

Some will use a tax free bag for more than what it was intended i am sure.

Nice cover-But are they also suggesting the airport can also be a battle ground

Hi will be departing from CRL at 09:25 next week , Does anyone know what time the Duty Free shop opens- cannot find information on the Airport home page.

I would expect the shop to be open for the first flight out.

Thanks

The CRL "duty free" shop is indeed open for the first flights out, I would say it opens around 05.30.
(The airside newspaper agent often opens later - you'd better buy your newspaper at the landside bookshop).

Thanks atoutprix- last minute shopping and the mrs loves the bulk pack of truffles they sell