Consequences of the closure of Belgian airspace last night: About 50 flights impacted at Liege Airport, less at other airports

The interruption of air traffic from midnight to 06:00, due to a lack of staff at Belgian air navigation service provider Skeyes, impacted about 50 cargo flights at Liege Airport, the Belgian airport most affected for a month and a half by these repeated nightly closures of the Belgian sky. The Walloon airport complains about an “unmanageable” situation, close to an “economic disaster”.

Among the 50 affected flights, 30 were delayed, 15 were unable to ensure their usual routing and 5 were cancelled outright, according to Christian Delcourt, head of communication at Liege Airport. If the Walloon airport can understand the social movement at Skeyes, the situation penalises mostly the airlines operating on the tarmac of Liège, costing millions of euros in the short term, not to mention the damage to the brand image of Liege Airport. Says Christian Delcourt: “We cannot continue to pay for a service that is not well done.”

At Brussels Airport, the closure of the airspace during the night caused only limited disturbances: on Monday evening, two Brussels Airlines flights were diverted to Cologne/Bonn airport shortly after midnight; on Tuesday morning, small delays of half an hour on average were recorded for passenger flights, without any cancellation. Some 20 cargo flights had to change their itineraries.

In Charleroi, the night closing of the airspace did not have effects, according to the spokesman of BSCA. Neither were there any affects at Ostend-Bruges and Antwerp.