Brussels Airport expressed in numbers on World Statistics Day

Brussels Airport is an extraordinary place. But how extraordinary exactly, and expressed in what? In the total number of arriving and departing passengers? Or rather in the kilos of luggage handled? In the number of coffees served? This World Statistics Day is the perfect opportunity to reveal a few interesting numbers about the airport.

The Brussels Airport passenger

Each year Brussels Airport welcomes around 22 million passengers of 191 different nationalities. Eight percent more men (54%) than women (46%) use the airport and the average passenger is 41.8 years old. 40% of passengers travel with hand luggage only; 50% check in online.

Ready for the madness. @tomorrowland party people from Vienna arriving at #brusselsairport this morning on one of the @flyingbrussels Global Journey party flights. #sntomorrowland #amare #tomorrowland2017 #tomorrowland

A post shared by Brussels Airport (@brusselsairport) on Jul 20, 2017 at 6:49am PDT

7,000 cups of coffee to wake up 

Passengers drink quite a lot at Brussels Airport. Each day around 7,000 cups of coffee are consumed, 5,600 beers are poured and 3,300 bottles of water are sold. Snacks are also popular: each day around 3,500 croissants or chocolate buns and 164.5 kg of chips are polished off, and one kilo of chocolate is sold per minute.

A bakery, a street food corner and a beer bar with local #Belgian products: brand new Bistrot (Gates B) has it all! #foodie #Belgitude #Belgium #brusselsairport

A post shared by Brussels Airport (@brusselsairport) on May 9, 2017 at 6:27am PDT

181 tennis courts of solar panels

Each passenger uses about 8 litres of water and produces around 155 g of waste per day. 25% of that waste is now recycled. For example, 9,000 fleece sweaters were made from 98 tonnes of plastic. There are also the equivalent of 181 tennis courts of solar panels at the Brussels Airport site, which are used to generate electricity.

Passengers can stop off at 400 toilets before departure

Nappies can be changed in one of the 30 baby changing rooms. Lost something at the airport? Then your item is one of the 20,537 pieces of lost property per year. Luckily a third of items are returned to their owners.