May Day chaos predicted on way to Zaventem 30/04/2008 00:00

Blame the building work, Kiss and Ride and the Dutch!

Belgium is gearing up for a long holiday weekend and works at Brussels Airport in Zaventem (Flemish Brabant) look like putting a damper on the spirits of holidaymakers heading for other climes.

Thursday is May Day or Labour Day in Belgium and an official holiday. This year the holiday coincides with another holiday in the Christian calendar, Ascension.

This too is a public holiday in Belgium.

Many, but not all companies, are giving their employees an extra day off on Friday.

As a result many people have a four-day weekend and will be taking the opportunity to fly out of the country for a short break.

This is good forward planning given the poor meteorological conditions at the moment here.

Holidaymakers using Brussels Airport in Zaventem face an extra hurdle these days.

Works are underway and reaching the airport by car is somewhat of a tall order.

The federal police are urging travellers to come to the airport by car.

Motorists should "kiss and ride"!

Some 27,000 passengers are expected at the airport during the next few days and there are already too few parking spaces at the moment.

Because of the works outside the arrivals and departure areas all motorists dropping off passengers are forced onto one lane.

A kiss and ride zone has been laid out just around the corner, but many travellers are unaware of this.

Many motorists are simply stopping in the middle of the one single lane that is available and are blocking all the traffic.

Blame the Dutch!

The situation is exacerbated by the Queen's Day holiday in the Netherlands.

As a result of the holiday many Dutch people are on the move too and many have opted to fly out of Brussels Airport because they were able to get hold of a cheaper ticket.

[flandersenews.be / Expatica]