I can think of many UK airports that are somewhat optimistic in their naming, particularly around London.....

Interestingly, it was the Luftwaffe that developed most of the Middelkerke site as an airport. Even they had an entirely different treatment for Skegness.....

I flew in and out of Ostend with Ryanair a few years ago from Glasgow Prestwick via Stansted. I agree that it's not the most modern looking airport in the world but I don't go on holiday just to look at an airport. What I did find was that getting from the aircraft to standing outside waiting for the bus took only a few minutes and that's what I like in an airport - speed and efficiency. I don't want to walk miles from the check in desk to the aircraft. Ostend might not have the potential to be as busy as the likes of Charleroi but I believe there is potential there for the airport to be used more than it is at present. A couple of years ago the Flemish Government were looking at starting routes from Ostend to Manchester and Prestwick / Glasgow or Edinburgh. Belgium is very underserved from Scotland. The only flights to Belgium are from Edinburgh to Brussels. I used to fly Prestwick to Charleroi but that route was cancelled a while ago. Even then it was such a trek to Ostend. It could take five hours by bus and train. Last year I had to travel from Irvine to Ostend by train which took about 16 hours!!

Ostend-Bruges airport:30 % more pax in 2015
 

Jetairfly(JAF) will introduce new flights from OST to Barcelona as from April next year. (3 flights:week). On top of this comes an increase in frequency to some popular sunny destinations such as Malaga,Alicante,Tenerife (also 3/week and Rhodos(2Xweek); all in all JAF is increasing it's number of seats from/to OST by about 30%. Airport is then connected with some 14 cities in Spain,Greece,Tunisia and Turkey.But It is said that new OST airport operator EGIS is also looking to UK airports to set up connections. According to the rumours this could be airports in Mid-England or Scotland. Anyone
an idea which routings could be meant here?
Grtz.

Difficult to see which airports they could be targeting in Central England. I drive regularly from the East Midlands to Belgium, and onward to Central Europe, and to be honest, pick your time of day right, and it's only 5 hours or so to Oostende and the other coastal resorts. There could be a little business traffic to the towns and cities to the west of Brussels, and possibly to some Northern French locations, but too little to sustain a frequent service.

As for "bucket and spade" tourism, although to my mind the north sea coastal resorts like Koksijde, Nieuwpoort etc. are infinitely more pleasant than their opposite numbers on our side of the water, the weather isn't that much better and looking at accommodation prices (as I have done) I don't think they'll compete with the guaranteed sunshine of the Spanish resorts.

Perhaps leisure routes to / from Scotland, where there would be a better chance of two-way traffic might be viable, but by whom, I don't know. Some years ago Ryanair dabbled with Oostende but walked away, but that was from southeast England.

Since Ryanair stopped flying from Prestwick to Charleroi several years ago I only go to Ostend once a year if at all. The journey is just too long and tiring. Direct flights from Prestwick, Glasgow or Edinburgh to Ostend would be more than welcome and it would be a service that I would use several times per year. However, would there be enough demand for a point to point service? Would it be better if there was a route from Scotland to Ostend and on to somewhere else? Belgium is very poorly connected to Scotland, especially the west coast so I will be following this with great interest.

Rumour goes that Ostend airport is in talks with Flybe and a Flybe delegation would have visited OST recently. That could mean opening of new route(s) from OST to Britain,finally I should say.

In the meantime JAF will open up a new route to Rome-FCO as from October 31st.(3X week!). The BCN route opened in April proves to be successful and will be continued during winter.

The airport also asked for more night slots to be more atractive for potential cargo operators.

PAX traffic during september was up 12% as compared to last year.

All in all encouraging signs for this regional airport.http://www.pprune.org/images/infopop/icons/icon7.gif

I always thought Flybe/Stobart should have tried Ostend from Southend instead of Antwerp when they first started the SEN services in 2014. They were always going to get slaughtered by CityJet/VLM out of LCY so they may as well have tried something different. I do hope BE start some UK-OST routes sooner or later, I think there could well be a sizeable market there.

Adam :)

There might be a small seasonal market in the Summer months, but other than that I'm not so sure.

Ostend-Brugge to UK routings and v.v.
 

It should be more than summer only. Times have changed. Proportionally the number of Belgians spending money on citytrips beyond the summer period has risen considerably. Many Belgian retirees have moved over to the Belgian coast within the catchment area of Ostend airport. In general they appreciate the conveniences smaller regional airports are offering (less hectic,closer to home,less distance to walk on the airport site itself,shorter check-in times ,less queuing ,etc..). Also nearby ports of zeebrugge and Ghent have grown considerably the last 10 years. On top of that there is no longer a ferry connection between Ostend and UK. Offering air-services from OST would be the fastest connection between Western-Belgium,Northern France and Zeeland(NL) and major UK cities,chunnel or no chunnel. Fact is also that UK(not only London)is getting more attention and fans(maybe due to all those Belgian football players in the Premier league)
It may be true that many routes between OST and UK would not have sufficient point-to-point passengers all year long,but by combining with other city pairs,and with the support of the travel agencies and local tourist authorities , IMHO air connections from/to OST would be a viable extra to the currently offered transportation options.

There are no direct flights from the west of Scotland to Belgium. From Edinburgh Ryanair flies to Charleroi about four times per week and Brussels Airlines flies to Zaventem daily. Flights to Ostend from Scotland would be great even if there was a stopover en route.

The Southend to Ostend route was the busiest scheduled service in the world during the mid 1960s. Unlikely to be so again!!

Might be worth a try by Stobart though.

With high speed rail available from Belgium / Northern France to London, I really can't see OST to anywhere south and east of London working.

However OST to EDI or GLA might be a goer, surface transport being a non starter unless you're particularly into trains or buses! The market is always likely to be more inbound tourism, as the bucket and spade traffic to the (excellent) beaches on the Belgian cost, between Koksijde and Oostende are sadly a thing of the past - UK travelers preferring the more "British" destinations of Benidorm, Mallorca and Turkey! And of course the weather isn't that much better than Brighton or Margate.

Very true of course, but strangely enough one of the best ever tans I ever got (without even trying) was on a 10 day glorious sunshine Summer holiday on the Belgian coast in the early 80s!

ostend
 

I think I was there around the same time. I know..
I got sunstroke.
Bloody hot that summer!!
and the seafood/restaurants are excellent.
Indeed the coast there is def better than, for example, Margate.

Without appearing to be in the pay of the Flanders tourist board, I can only concur with that.

I particularly like Koksijde Bad and Nieuwpoort. they are so much less tacky then their neighbours on our side of the channel / North Sea, and the pedestrianised promenade makes for very pleasant afternoons relaxing with a decent (if expensive) meal and some interesting beer.

How they go about attracting British tourists back in numbers I don't know.

Ostend -Brugge: new investments and new routes
 

Jetairfly is adding 4 new destinations from Ostend-Brugge airport.
Rome (first flight today 31/10!) and Nice Côte d'Azur, Varna and Burgas as from next spring.
On top on that EGIS , the airport operator, announced this week they will invest close to 2 million EUR in the airport including:
- Tax free zone of 800 sq meters.
- facelift for the income hall
- extra 550 new parking places
- creation of a VIP-room
- Setting up a 'fastlane'
- removing of an old watchtower

Also Rental car firms will be sollicited to set up an office at the airport.

Just wondering when there will be an announcement on flights from/to UK airports from OST.

With enhanced infrastructure and new destinations being added every year It seems the airport is definitely in an expansion phase..
Same is true for Antwerp which just saw VLM introducing BHX on 5 Oct and will see JAF adding Rome (also today) ,Nador(Mor) and Split(HR) from next spring.. On top come the announced Extrajet connections to Leeds and Copenhagen.(But let's wait and see for these ones.)

Summer 2016 : Jetairfly (TUI) expanding activities at OST
 

Some more details on expansion plans communicated earlier:

-capacity increase of 32% ,offering flights to 16 destinations.
-OST-Rome will be flown by 737-700 (2X/week).(in winter: 3X/week with E-195)
-addition of new destination Nice (2/week) with 737-700
-addition of new destinations Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria (2X/week)(737-700)
-increased number of seats for flights to Malaga,Alicante and Heraklion.

JAF will base 1 B737-800 (189 seats) and 1 B737-700(148 seats) permanently at the airport.


Source:
http://www.ost.aero/nieuw-uit-oostende- ... -bulgarije

Comparison between September 2015 and September 2014

Movements
2036 in OKTOBER 2015 t.o.v. 1.642 in OKTOBER 2014
= A percentage difference of +24.0%.


Passengers
23.409 in OKTOBER 2015 t.o.v. 18.961 in OKTOBER 2014
= A percentage difference of 23.5%.


Freight / ton
1.130 ton in OKTOBER 2015 t.o.v. 704 ton in OKTOBER 2014
= A percentage difference of +60.5%.

Comparison between 2015 and 2014 (JAN - SEPT)

comparison between 2015 and 2014
__________________________________________________

Movements
23 151 in 2015 compared with 25 023 in 2014
= A percent difference of -7.5%.

Passengers
241 464 in 2015 compared with 228 207 in 2014
= A percentage difference of +5.8%.

Freight / tonne
13 543 in 2015 compared with 21 130 in 2014
= A percentage difference of -35.9%.

CEO of Ostend Brugges Airport expects to announce a route to England later this year.

"Binnen 20 jaar willen we 1 miljoen reizigers" | HLN Oostende

Ostend - Lydd? Just kidding :E