Did you know Brussels Airport's 1958 terminal was designed by architects from Belgium's three regions?

When the new airport complex at Zaventem was formally handed over on 30 May 1958, its terminal was the work of three architects, Maxime Brunfaut, Géo Bontinck and Joseph Moutschen, one each from Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. Brussels Airport's own history page records that construction had been approved because the existing airport at Melsbroek was becoming too small, with foundation works starting in April 1956.

The decades that followed track the arrival of ever larger aircraft. Hangar 40, taken into use on 10 December 1964, had a roof the size of the Grand-Place in Brussels; it was completely burnt out in May 2006. The first jumbo jet landed at Zaventem on 2 July 1970, a Pan American aircraft named "Clipper Red Jacket".

Capacity grew in steps. The Satellite opened on 25 June 1973, raising capacity from six to eight million passengers a year, a dedicated business aviation terminal had opened in 1972, and the Brucargo cargo complex followed in 1980. Hangar 41, designed for jumbo jets, entered service in April 1983.

The same page also recalls the airport's one dramatic air crash: on 15 February 1961 a Sabena Boeing 707 crashed at Berg, in Kampenhout, killing 61 passengers, 11 crew members and a farmer.

For today's passengers, this layered history is why the airport combines buildings from different eras. Anyone flying from Brussels should check the airport's current terminal and pier information before travelling.