The number of flights continues to drop at Brussels Airport due to the coronavirus epidemic. During most of last week, 20 to 25 percent of the flights were cancelled. The proportion of flights cancelled reached around 40% on Monday, said Nathalie Pierard, spokesperson for Brussels Airport, to Belgian press agency Belga.
On Monday, 215 flights were cancelled out of the 570 normally scheduled. Traffic to countries like Poland, Morocco, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Bulgaria and Turkey has completely or almost completely stopped, she added. Many countries indeed closed their borders and/or prohibited all air traffic.
The decrease in the number of passengers is much more important because the aircraft load factor is way lower than normal. Some flights are nearly empty.
The decrease is expected to worsen in the next few days, after many airlines decided to cut their capacity by 75 to 90 percent or to stop flying altogether. It is rumoured that the main carrier at Brussels Airport, Brussels Airlines, might make the decision to suspend all flights.