Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Antwerp Airport has imposed a ban on all touch-and-go flights through the end of 2025, citing operational concerns and community impact, officials confirm.
This is because Antwerp has nearly surpassed the maximum number of training flights allowed. The airport is presently determining whether to submit an application for an environmental permit amendment. Touch-and-go flights are a crucial part of training, so flight schools are thinking about how to move forward.
A “notam”—a notice to airmen—was published last week. It says that because of environmental constraints, touch-and-go flights will not be allowed again until December 31, 2025. Gazet van Antwerpen reported this, and our editors have verified the information.
The flight schools at the airport are hurt by this prohibition. An essential component of flight training is a touch-and-go, which involves landing, momentarily touching down, and then taking off again.
“This will allow us to drill all the complex actions performed during take-off and landing,”
says Geert Vanhandenhove of the Royal Antwerp Aviation Club (RAAC), Belgium.
“I think everyone wants pilots to be able to take off and land properly; those are critical phases in a flight. That’s why it really needs to be drilled into them, so they can perform all actions without thinking twice.”
Such touch-and-gos are perceived as disruptive by those around them.
“They usually do several of these per flight, and they keep circling close to the airport, often flying over the same zones. This is different from a scheduled or business flight departing or arriving,”
says Stephane Pötgens, Business Unit Manager at Antwerp Airport.
The airport was granted a new environmental permit last year that restricts training flights to 16,000 flights. Thirteen thousand of these have already been finished. According to the airport’s calculations, the limit will be achieved in September if the flight schools keep up their training.
There are several reasons for this, according to Pötgens.
“The most important is that the training programs in our country are known for their high quality. So there’s a lot of demand. In addition, the weather has been very nice in the first half of the year, which has led to more flights.”
But there also appears to be a disproportion between the flights permitted in Antwerp, he adds. Besides a restriction on training flights, there’s also a restriction on touch-and-go flights.
“14,000 of those touch-and-go flights are permitted each year, and we’ve only used about half of them. But in addition, we’re allowed to conduct a maximum of 16,000 training flights, and those are almost reached.”
A touch-and-go counts as 2, because after landing, you immediately take off again and land again.
“I think it’s indeed useful to consult with the flight schools about these numbers,”
says Vanhandenhove.
“We believe historical data has now been taken into account, some of which still stems from the COVID period when fewer flights were flown. Now that’s normalizing again, we can better estimate how many flights can be expected.”
Meanwhile, the airport and the schools are in discussions to explore other options.
“We’re also consulting with other airports and clubs to see if we can practice elsewhere, but that’s not so straightforward,”
says Vanhandenhove.
For instance, some student pilots are currently only permitted to perform touch-and-gos; they are not yet permitted to fly to another airport to do so. An instructor must therefore go with them in that situation and wait there until the pupil has finished their exercises. Logistically, that gets challenging.
The airport also looks at whether it needs to submit an application for environmental permit modifications or amendments.
“We’re going to look at what the schools need and also take into account the potential disruption. We have to find a balance in that.”
“But it now seems there’s a disproportion between the 14,000 touch-and-gos that are permitted, but which we’re not achieving because only 16,000 training flights are permitted. Perhaps that last restriction should be revised,”
concludes Pötgens.
How will the ban impact student pilot schedules and enrollment?
The ban on touch-and-go flights at Antwerp Airport will likely disrupt student pilot schedules and training progression because these maneuvers are essential for building piloting skills efficiently. Flight schools will have to adjust their training programs, possibly extending training duration or seeking alternative locations for touch-and-go practice, which could delay students’ certification timelines and impact enrollment capacity.
This pause comes as the airport approaches the annual limit of 16,000 training flight movements permitted under its environmental permit, which restricts training flights to control noise and environmental impact.
Until the airport requests and receives an amended permit allowing more training flights, schools must operate within these constraints, potentially limiting the number of cadets they can train concurrently.
