Terror attacks: explosions in the departure hall of Brussels Airport!

[Passenger]

From what I've heard, a total new infrastructure is being build/installed at this very moment. Before it opens for all airlines, a test should be done on a limited scale, but big enough to call it a test. I think it's a good decision to do this with the airline that is flexible and that is able to give a maximal support in manpower. Thus Brussels Airlines.

[Poiu]

From what I've heard, a total new infrastructure is being build/installed at this very moment. Before it opens for all airlines, a test should be done on a limited scale, but big enough to call it a test. I think it's a good decision to do this with the airline that is flexible and that is able to give a maximal support in manpower. Thus Brussels Airlines.

Not sure, the long haul fleet is not flexible at all. Schedules are very tight, daylight operations only in some African countries and crew duty/rest times can complicate the operations.
I would say: try it with point to point, in a second stage SN and in a couple of weeks, even months probably, holiday flights. SN is bleeding money at a life threatening rate, but if the operations implode after a too fast return it could cost them even more.

[sean1982]

Its not a matter of urgency. Ryanair is planning to restart on wednesday together with Brussels airport. The limitations of BRU dont lay in capacity at the terminals bit capacity in check-in and screening. Intercontinental puts a much higher burden on that then any low cost carrier does.

Priority should be given to Brussels Airlines, the number 1 airline in Belgium. Period.

In your ideal world maybe, but BRU is more than just SN. FR is together with SN, JAF and HQ the only 4 who have based (passenger) aircraft and crew and all of them should and will be given priority according to my latest info.

[flightlover]

Intercontinental flights and their consequent feeder flights are the most important ones for the airport.
They do not only bring pax but also a lot of cargo. And therefore they also bring more support to the Belgian Economy.
Ryanair brings loads off pax but zero cargo. Not to mention an A330 or B777 brings more income in airport taxes than a B738. Even though they might see themselves obligated to give the airlines some tax brake to convince them to keep BRU on-line during the low pax load factor period that is to be expected.

[Poiu]

Intercontinental flights and their consequent feeder flights are the most important ones for the airport.
They do not only bring pax but also a lot of cargo. And therefore they also bring more support to the Belgian Economy.
Ryanair brings loads off pax but zero cargo. Not to mention an A330 or B777 brings more income in airport taxes than a B738. Even though they might see themselves obligated to give the airlines some tax brake to convince them to keep BRU on-line during the low pax load factor period that is to be expected.

There is no difference for the Belgian economy if the cargo arrives in LGG or BRU.
The airport will make more money handling 10 narrow bodies instead of two wide bodies. Transfer pax hardly pay any taxes.
After previous terrorist events LCCs have always recovered much faster than legacies. Air France is still loosing revenue as a result of the November events. Reservations at easyJet were back to normal within a month and there are talks about massive expansion of easyJet in France.

[Flanker2]

How if you cannot even acces the airport? People were able to get their cars yesterday... My god, what contingency plan are you thinking of, knowing every car is checked at the roundabout in Zaventem, and access near the airport is allowed at a very slow pace? And this is not imposed by Bru Air,but by the government!

Come on, give some ideas, but with solutions for the restraints which are put at the airport site by the Government, investigation teams, police.
Luik is handling 10 of the Airbusses, perhaps 11, and they are at max capacity. People are needed too to handle the planes,not only available tarmac space. Swissport has the contract in BRU in LGE it is Aviapartner... You should consider all factors, and not forget about most of them just to make yourself look smart. If every regional airport is to foresee to be able to handle extra flights to that extent, that would make it all a bit too expensive, because during normal ops 70% of the employees at those airports will be twisting thumbs.
On top To access the airside people are getting screened before they can have a badge. I can understand these days badges are not handed out easily, so it is not easy to get an extra amount of hands for the handlers.
And as said before, other companies that started with their plan B had already a foot on other airports.

Like I said, it's not easy to improvise so much so quickly.
But why do they have to improvise so much? The simple answer is that BRU and SN were totally unprepared.

Companies with 1 billion Euro of revenues and 3000 employees should have risk assessments and contingency plans prepared for such a scenario as the current one. If you consider that a fire in the main building would have had the same consequences, it's almost unthinkable that they don't have a contingency plan.

Even more unthinkable considering that ISIS Europe HQ is 10 kilometers down the road.
BRU was one of the most obvious targets. If you scroll back a few months, I talked about the risks of travelling through IST on the "superfares" topic. Airports are an obvious ISIS target and BRU was as high on the risk list as IST (but I didn't mention it to avoid giving any idea's).

Actually BRU was very lucky, because the terrorists could have gone airside too.
The big issue with the current security checks is that a group of terrorists could easily shoot their way through security as there are no armed guards at any airports' security points.
I hope that they do something about this.

[sean1982]

Flanker, what are you talking about?? There were armed military personel in BRU at the security check since november??

[RoMax]

Like I said, it's not easy to improvise so much so quickly.
But why do they have to improvise so much? The simple answer is that BRU and SN were totally unprepared.

Companies with 1 billion Euro of revenues and 3000 employees should have risk assessments and contingency plans prepared for such a scenario as the current one. If you consider that a fire in the main building would have had the same consequences, it's almost unthinkable that they don't have a contingency plan.

Seriously... they both have a huge amount of contingency plans for the most unthinkable situations. But there is so much more to this situation than just the operational aspect, things that go way beyond the power of BAC itself (and no I'm not just talking about the time it took before the departures hall was released). For a matter of fact a plain fire destroying the exact same zone, would be so much easier to work with right now.
There is no blind improvisation, there is only working extremely hard day and night by people that went through a nightmare this week, dealing with a situation which is still largely controlled and influenced by the authorities.

BRU will have to restart under a huge amount of restrictions that go way beyond the actual damage to the terminal.

Everyone is free to be critical of course, but think twice when you are not aware of the full situation and how things currently work behind the screens.

[Passenger]

Like I said, it's not easy to improvise so much so quickly. But why do they have to improvise so much? The simple answer is that BRU and SN were totally unprepared. Companies with 1 billion Euro of revenues and 3000 employees should have risk assessments and contingency plans prepared for such a scenario as the current one.

Initially I wasn't going to react to your nonsense. But I do so after all, because it gives me plaatsvervangende schaamte, the way you insult and ridiculize both Brussels Airport and Brussels Airlines.

If they would have prepared such a scenario, you would be the first one to say that it's a criminal act because it proofs they knew it could happen the way it happened. And they failed to prevent it.

If you consider that a fire in the main building would have had the same consequences, it's almost unthinkable that they don't have a contingency plan.

It was not a fire. It was the worst bomb blast we ever had in Belgium. And to make it worse, they weren't allowed to look at the damage (let alone to assess the damage) for four days. After that, the airport only needs 3 days (Sat-Sun-Mon) to be operational again. You may call that "improvise" - I call it superb organization.

Actually BRU was very lucky, because the terrorists could have gone airside too.

No, they couldn't. Safety measures prevented them from entering the airside. If it would have been possible for them, they would have done it.

[flymd11]

If they would have prepared such a scenario, you would be the first one to say that it's a criminal act because it proofs they knew it could happen the way it happened. And they failed to prevent it.

Absolutely not. The airport should have a contingency plan for a full range of scenarios and that includes the main terminal building being out operation following a criminal/terrorist act.

[Jetter]

It is the second most important economic pole in Belgium.

Yet in the year of Sabena's bankruptcy and the plummeting of BRU traffic the Belgium economy grew faster than the Dutch, French and German economies combined.

[RoMax]

If they would have prepared such a scenario, you would be the first one to say that it's a criminal act because it proofs they knew it could happen the way it happened. And they failed to prevent it.

Absolutely not. The airport should have a contingency plan for a full range of scenarios and that includes the main terminal building being out operation following a criminal/terrorist act.

As I said before, obviously they have a numerous amount of contingency scenarios. For those that think that in an extreme case like this which is basically one of the worst possible, it is as simple as pulling it from under the dust and execute it as described to relaunch ops within days, is totally not understanding the situation.

Of course this is something BAC, SN, etc will also learn from and their future contingency scenarios will probably be even more extensive, but acting as if they were totally not prepared in any way and are now just improvising...you should be ashamed even thinking like that :sick:

[convair]

Not sure, the long haul fleet is not flexible at all. Schedules are very tight, daylight operations only in some African countries and crew duty/rest times can complicate the operations.

Impressive amount of stupid statements in the last few pages and the 1 hereabove is a nice example: all SN Afi return flights leave at night!!

Regarding the return of operations to BRU, the airlines most affected by the closure should of course get priority (despite the childish "me first" I read here).

Like I said, it's not easy to improvise so much so quickly.
But why do they have to improvise so much? The simple answer is that BRU and SN were totally unprepared.

Companies with 1 billion Euro of revenues and 3000 employees should have risk assessments and contingency plans prepared for such a scenario as the current one. If you consider that a fire in the main building would have had the same consequences, it's almost unthinkable that they don't have a contingency plan.

Even more unthinkable considering that ISIS Europe HQ is 10 kilometers down the road.
BRU was one of the most obvious targets. If you scroll back a few months, I talked about the risks of travelling through IST on the "superfares" topic. Airports are an obvious ISIS target and BRU was as high on the risk list as IST (but I didn't mention it to avoid giving any idea's).

Actually BRU was very lucky, because the terrorists could have gone airside too.
The big issue with the current security checks is that a group of terrorists could easily shoot their way through security as there are no armed guards at any airports' security points.
I hope that they do something about this.

By now, we're all well aware of your obsession with the contingency plans flanker, thank you, but no need to turn hysterical. Several knowledgeable people have tried to explain you that it is impossible to prepare for all situations. Try and look to the future now, please.

[b-west]

Pff, doesn't matter, delete this post please

[Passenger]

Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws now reports a Facebook post from Jan Van der Cruysse about the attack at Brussels Airport. I know the moderators prefer a translation in brief into English, but that's impossible with Jan's letter. So please use an online translate service.

Jan Den der Cruysse about 22th March 2016:
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/36484/Aanslage ... agen.dhtml

Edited by moderator: see English translation here: https://www.aviation24.be/brussels-airport ... y-attacks/

[b720]

[About the military in the streets, at the airport, etc.]

They are not for the show, they give a sense of security to all of us, even if it is a false sense of security. A 1000 well equipped soldiers can not stop a terrorist attack like the one that occurred at BRU or metro. Without sharp and efficient intelligence, and right international choices and alliances we can not stop those attacks. We need to push the EU and the "free " world to stop Bull Sxxxx and start talking to the Syrian government and working with them, share their intelligence, and support the legitimate Syrian army in fighting those terrorists in Syria, terrorists that come from all over the world our country included. Hopefully the Syrian army can kill them before they return ... Only then can we have peace here, and our army personel can return to their bases. All this said, with all respect and appreciation to our military and police, who are targets themselves like all of us. And of course respect to the victims, and hopefully we do not have to go through this ever again.

[travellover]

It is the second most important economic pole in Belgium.

Yet in the year of Sabena's bankruptcy and the plummeting of BRU traffic the Belgium economy grew faster than the Dutch, French and German economies combined.

I leave you with your opinion.

[travellover]

What will be the impact of the attacks on the whole belgian economy, on BRU, on travels (business and leisure). I hope it will recover ASAP.

[Acid-drop]

They are not for the show, they give a sense of security to all of us, even if it is a false sense of security. A 1000 well equipped soldiers can not stop a terrorist attack like the one that occurred at BRU or metro. Without sharp and efficient intelligence, and right international choices and alliances we can not stop those attacks.

Finally some thinking here and not emotional nonsense.
"Intelligence" is the only answer.
Military were present everywhere, they couldn't help in any way, nor disuation, nor prevention, not even in the fake feeling of security. Dozen of press articles are asking this week if it still makes sense to have them on the street. Asking it is like giving the answer.
They have an opinion, you have mine, i respect yours (although i'd prefer more rational and cartesian thinking than emotions, but everybody is free)
Subject closed, its an aviation forum.

[sn26567]

Subject closed, its an aviation forum.

... and meanwhile, some cleaning!