First plane takes off from Brussels Airport after terror attacks

A Brussels Airlines flight to the Portuguese city of Faro became the first plane Sunday to take off from Brussels Airport since it was hit by Islamic State attacks on March 22.

Staff and government officials at the airport marked the departure with a minute’s silence and a round of applause. The passengers on board were the first to undergo the airport’s strict new security regime after the suicide bombings.

The key travel hub has been closed since two men blew themselves up in the departure hall on March 22 in coordinated blasts that also struck a metro station in the Belgian capital, killing a total of 32 people.

The attacks at the heart of Europe shocked the country and many hope the airport’s reopening, albeit in a limited capacity and using a tent-like temporary check-in facility, will help turn the page on this month’s traumatic events.

Brussels Airport chief executive Arnaud



Feist on Saturday said the partial resumption of services would start with three “symbolic passenger flights” to Faro, Athens and Turin.

“These flights are the first hopeful sign from an airport that is standing up straight after a cowardly attack,” Feist said.

Tough new checks will be in place after police threatened to go on strike if security wasn’t improved, and travellers have been asked to come in three hours before departure time.

One of the biggest changes will be that only passengers with tickets and ID documents will be allowed into the makeshift departure hall, and their bags will be checked before entering. Once inside, passengers will also undergo the usual security checks.

The airport will initially only be accessible by car. Vehicles will be screened and subject to spot checks, while extra police and soldiers will be on patrol throughout the airport zone.