Brussels Airport’s journey to streamlined identity security
Brussels Airport Company is the managing organisation behind Brussels Airport, Belgium's primary international gateway located in the heart of Europe. As a major European hub and key economic engine, it connects the capital to over 200 destinations worldwide, housing hundreds of campus businesses, and supporting more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Challenge
Brussels Airport’s main challenge was supporting its substantial and complex ecosystem. Managing 30,000 identities across 1,500 companies working on the airport campus and 2,000 direct staff created significant operational friction for Brussels Airport. Onboarding took up to three weeks, internal role transfers were notoriously complex, and governing physical and digital access presented a major security risk. To maintain operational momentum and meet NIS2 compliance standards, a unified solution was essential.
Solution
To overcome these operational hurdles, Brussels Airport implemented SailPoint Identity Security as its central governance foundation. The implementation established automated lifecycle management across both IT systems and physical access control points for employees, contractors, and partner companies. By unifying physical badge access with digital identity governance within a single platform, the airport replaced disjointed manual requests with intuitive, self-service workflows that accelerate access delivery while maintaining strict audit trails and compliance alignment.
- Industry
- Public Sector
- Company size
- ~2,000 direct employees (~30,000 total managed identities)
- Products
- SailPoint Human Fabric
- Non-Employee Risk Management
Because of identity security, we were able to cut our onboarding times going all the way up from three weeks to a couple of hours. We have been able to facilitate the efficiency of onboarding and offboarding users for personal service companies, and we have been also able to gain our partners' trust."
Vincent Florquin, Service Manager, Access & Identification, Brussels Airport
Unpacking the transformation
Managing access within a high-security airport environment demands precision. Brussels Airport operates as a complex ecosystem where thousands of third-party staff, contractors, and direct employees require specific digital and physical permissions. Before modernising its identity governance, managing this vast workforce involved fragmented workflows, long turnaround times for access requests, and heavy administrative overhead.
Recognising that identity security is central to both operational continuity and regulatory compliance, Brussels Airport implemented SailPoint Identity Security. The transformation focused on automating user lifecycle events, consolidating access visibility, and establishing a single source of truth for all campus identities.
Unifying digital and physical security
A defining feature of Brussels Airport's identity strategy is extending SailPoint Identity Security to govern physical access to airport premises alongside traditional IT infrastructure. By linking identity lifecycle management directly to physical badge provisioning, the airport ensures that physical and digital access rights are aligned, granted promptly, and revoked immediately upon role changes or offboarding.
Streamlining movers and contractor access
In an environment with frequent internal role changes and a large contingent workforce, managing movers used to be a major friction point. SailPoint automated these transitions, allowing personnel to move between roles without security gaps or delayed access. Furthermore, third-party contractors and personal service companies now experience seamless onboarding, drastically cutting wait times and building stronger trust with external business partners.
The results
Usability driving rapid adoption
A powerful identity platform depends on user adoption. Despite users having varied technical backgrounds and skills, SailPoint proved highly intuitive and user friendly. Straightforward request workflows and clear naming conventions enabled swift adoption across all business units without requiring extensive technical training.
Operational efficiency and partner trust
By reducing onboarding times from weeks to hours, Brussels Airport eliminated critical operational bottlenecks. This efficiency directly benefits campus partners while granting IT leadership complete visibility over all 30,000 identities.
Looking ahead
Brussels Airport continues to build on its identity foundation. As NIS2 requirements came into effect, the airport is well-positioned for ongoing compliance. The team is already looking toward the future, focusing on emerging trends like the complex management of non-workforce and machine identities. By building their security framework with SailPoint, Brussels Airport has established a resilient, adaptable foundation that keeps their campus secure, their users productive, and their operations compliant.
