A difficult restart

It was not until September 1946 that the airport came back into Belgian hands and the restoration of the airport grounds was started. On April 17, 1947, the first Ercoupe assembled in Antwerp is presented to the press. It was not until October 1947 that regular traffic returned: Sabena then started its new connection to London. It was not until 1949 that the buildings and the large hangar were fully restored.

Between 1947 and 1949, the airport installations were put back in order with the help of some  hundred internees. At the beginning of 1947, the press reported that KLM would set up an Eindhoven-Antwerp-London connection, but this was sabotaged by Brussels. The company Intair was founded for the distribution and assembly of the Ercoupe. Life only came to life on October 9, 1947: Sabena started with a connection Antwerp-London with her DC-3s. Due to increasing success, these were later replaced by Convair and DC-6. At the time, there was even talk of a second, parallel runway... we hope that one day there will be a parallel taxiway.

In the early 1950s, Fred Olsen and Braathens aircraft regularly called at our airport to take sailors to and from their home countries.

At times of fog (and bad weather) in Brussels, Antwerp regularly served as an alternative airport for flights from New York, Léopoldville or Johannesburg. Antwerp was then a real intercontinental airport. And let's hope for fog in Brussels... In 1952, the statue of Jan Olieslagers was inaugurated by the Antwerp Aviation Club, which now stands prominently at the entrance to the airport. In those years, in addition to motor flying, there was also a large activity of gliding by flying club "De Meeuw". In 1956 Antwerp got its first own airline with the establishment of Aviameer. With their Vickers Viking they flew to numerous holiday destinations. In 1958 it was very busy: English charter companies brought their passengers to Antwerp to go from there by bus to the World Exhibition. That year, a new airline was also founded: Belgian International Air Services (BIAS).