The Dark Sixties

When the ten-year plan for the port took shape and highways, engineering structures, tunnels were added, the airport went downhill. The aviation policy with centralization at a central airport was almost the death knell for aviation in Antwerp. The rise of the jets, such as Caravelle, meant that a runway of 100m was no longer sufficient. The London service was discontinued in 1961 and the helicopter service in 1962.

In the 1960s, Antwerp was fully committed to the development of the port; it swallowed up all the credits. The airport remained orphaned and fell into ruin due to a lack of financial resources. The loss of the Sabena connections and the disappearance of seafarers' traffic meant that it became very quiet at the airport. While minister Bertrand claimed that Antwerp would disappear if a proper connection with Zaventem were built, Antwerp politicians, led by Lode Craeybeckx, Hugo Schiltz, Leo Delwaide and Maurice Dequeecker, continued to defend the importance of the airport.

Regular visitors in those years were the C-46 Commandos, Bristol Freighters and even a C-74 Heracles that were used on pigeon flights.

In 1964 we regained some form of regular traffic: Ford Motor Cy organized scheduled flights between Antwerp and Southend to transport executives between their sites. There was a sparkle of light when the aircraft manufacturer Cessna wanted to establish its headquarters in Antwerp... it ended up being nothing. The Sotramat Flying School was founded in 1965 : it trained pilots from Benin, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo, Indonesia, ...

The Flemish Aviation Association was founded in 1966 to promote aviation. Delta Air Transport was founded in 1967 by Frans Van Den Bergh and was able to set up an Antwerp-Amsterdam service on behalf of KLM in 1969 with the help of Freddy Van Gaever.

In those years, various plans were also made for the relocation of the airport to Brecht, Oostmalle, Linkeroever, etc., but they never materialised.