Open sesame: Alibaba's push into Europe a mixed blessing for Liège

Apart from the pollution, there are concerns the Chinese firm's new airport hub may not revive the fortunes of the Belgian region

Braving an ominously grey sky, Ine Brants, 33, perches precariously at the top of a stepladder at Liege airport's perimeter fence. Ah, the green queen," she says, raising the long lens of her camera to Challenge Airlines' green-liveried jumbo jet as it flies into view. You can get a 747 rush hour here. It has definitely got busier since coronavirus."

Brants' lens is capturing the Alibaba effect. Quietly over the last three years, Liege, Belgium's third largest city, has been transformed into a launchpad for the Chinese e-commerce group's push into the European marketplace, a dynamic boosted by the coronavirus pandemic. It is a cause for celebration for some and worry for others.