Royal flights add up to €143,000 a year

Flights taken by Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde last year took €143,138 out of the defense ministry budget, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. The royal couple's travels include seven trips to Switzerland and five trips to France, according to figures released by defense minister Steven Vandeput at the request of Vlaams Belang MP Barbara Pas.

Belgian Air Force planes were used 26 times in 2015 for flights for King Philippe, or one flight every two weeks, with an average cost of €5,505 per trip. According to Pas, all but two of the trips were for private purposes.