Reopening Brussels Airport after the 22/03/2016 terror attacks

[Inquirer]

Indeed,
I've done my first trip from BRU last week, after working from our Zürich offices for over 2 weeks during the closure of BRU, and I can say it went smoother than I had feared.
It's not yet as before where I could leave 45 min before departure and still make it, but I made it from the office onto the plane in 1h30. For that amount of extra time, I can't go to Amsterdam or Paris (would not be appreciated either by 'Procurement' at my company, as we must fly STAR as much as possible) and even Düsseldorf is a poor option from work.
Of course, I do hope that over the coming weeks things will improve further as routine is established and extra facilities are added where needed.
All in all, I am pleased to be able to use 'our' BRU again and I honestly think people there are doing a great job and could do much better even were it not they seem to be constantly held back by very inflexible official structures like police, government and whatever else may feel like they have to have their say.
It really shows there are people working for private companies who realize their salaries are paid for by their customers, and then there are civil servants who know they will be paid anyhow and see commercial needs as just an inconvenience to a quiet and secure day at their desk.

[nordikcam]

I just saw on FR24 that Ethihad to Brussels is still landing in Dusseldorf. Is it scheduled to come back to Brussels, and if so when? What about Emirates and Thai?

Thaî is flying from BRU since a week !

[Jetter]

Police controls by car are too strict. Some police officer are also checking documents of each passenger and normally they should NOT do this. This is confirmed by the police unions. Only cars which are flagged by the ANR (licence plate recognitios) cameras or 'suspicious' vehicles should be checked. it this continuous today, the unions will inform their members again

What a weird country we live in when unions do not only want to negotiate about working procedures, but are also the ones giving instructions to the police on procedural matters. Very inefficient and undemocratic! I can't think of any other civilized country where unions are the ones giving procedural instructions to police.

Police should just do the job they're payed for and let the democratically elected officials decide which job that is (it's definitely not performing lunatic meaningless time-consuming checks). If they they don't want to do their job just fire them as would happen in any other civilized country. Unions are to blame!

[sean1982]

Arrived on SN2638 yesterday evening... 4 pax (myself included).

[evyncke]

Any similar reports from other airlines/routes? Presumably, this is to be expected, the hope being that LF will pick up progressively as the airport goes back to normal, security measures are relaxed, etc, no?

On Monday 11 April, IB3214 (MAD->BRU), business class was full and I would say economy at least 75% (but probably because it was apparently a feeder flight from South American/Caribbean vacations).

Some colleagues reported no traffic jam at all on Monday 14:30 and today Tuesday at 9:00

[DannyVDB]

What destination was that?

D

[webstermc]

Today on De Standaard Online http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20160412_02232399 an article about no traffic jams today, but more important: some info about the railway station

According to De Standaard (who got it from L'Echo) the railway station could be reopening on 17th of april (within 5 days). The spokesman from NMBS could not confirm this YET. There are still negotiations this week between NMBS, Brussels Airport and Infrabel.

[nordikcam]

What destination was that?

D

Hanovre with the Dash Q8/400

[Apuneger]

This morning I took the ringway that passes in front of Thomas Cook, Brussels Airlines & Abelag. After I passed the roundabout underneath the flyover, there was almost no traffic toward the airport, even with checks still in place. I think there were maybe 3-4 cars, nothing more.

Good thing is that there is a separate drivelane for employees and people driving towards the exit of the airport. Not sure since when they have put this in place.

Best regards,
Ivan

[citybirdva]

What destination was that?

D

Hannover indeed. Outbound flight had 22 pax.

[dna]

What is the reason why there are no trains running?is it because the access to the trainstation is via the departurehall ('diamond'). Is there no exit/access on the other side which might be used or opened towards the temporary check in tent

Trainstation still needs repairs, but will open soon. And I guess it has something to do with the damage at the diamond to (not sure or confirmed btw).
Exit to the tents are just 1 level up out of the station, so not to difficult to reach the tempolary check in

Thanks for the info Kapitein.

Just for the record: I can understand that rail services have not yet been restored, but it wouldn't to BAC any harm to be more upfront and proactive in how it communicates. The only communication: rail station is closed until further notice. No explanation, no timeline.
I was also quite surprised by the airport's spokesperson's comments on the traffic chaos on Monday: "these checks have got nothing to do with us'."
That may well be the case, but I think it is an unfortunate way of communicating with your passengers/customers.

[travellover]

Following BRU website (and flightaware):

EY came to BRU yesterday :
11-04-2016 EY55 A332 Abu Dhabi Int'l (AUH / OMAA) (T3 - 53)- Brussels (BRU / EBBR) 09:29 GST 14:06 CEST 6:37
11-04-2016 EY56 A332 Brussels (BRU / EBBR) - Abu Dhabi Int'l (AUH / OMAA) 21:39 (B6) GST - 06:35 (T1) CEST

Next flight is scheduled for tomorrow :
13-04-2016 EY55 A332 Abu Dhabi Int'l (AUH / OMAA) - Brussels (BRU / EBBR) 09:10 GST 14:25 CEST
13-04-2016 EY56 A332 Brussels (BRU / EBBR)- Abu Dhabi Int'l (AUH / OMAA) 21:50 CEST 06:30 GST (+1)

[Passenger]

Some people stated that many airlines are flying with very low load factors at the moment.

A bit off topic: this morning, a Stobart Air ATR-42 (EI-EHH) operating a Flybe flight from Southend to Groningen Eelde Airport declared emergency whilst on approach to Groningen Eelde. Number of people on board: 4 crew + 4 pax.

[thalenoi]

Qatar Airways to fly to Bru as of 15 April.
QR193 DOH BRU 08.15-14.00
QR194 BRU-DOH 18.00-01.15

[webstermc]

I've read in the newspaper that there are 15000 passengers for 450 flights at the moment. This means that there are +/- 33 pax per flight at the moment...

sources http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1901/reisnieuw ... ntem.dhtml

[Acid-drop]

Everything is fine !

[sean1982]

Everything is fine !

+1

[convair]

All in all, I am pleased to be able to use 'our' BRU again and I honestly think people there are doing a great job and could do much better even were it not they seem to be constantly held back by very inflexible official structures like police, government and whatever else may feel like they have to have their say.
It really shows there are people working for private companies who realize their salaries are paid for by their customers, and then there are civil servants who know they will be paid anyhow and see commercial needs as just an inconvenience to a quiet and secure day at their desk.

Spot on Inquirer!

Police controls by car are too strict. Some police officer are also checking documents of each passenger and normally they should NOT do this. This is confirmed by the police unions. Only cars which are flagged by the ANR (licence plate recognitios) cameras or 'suspicious' vehicles should be checked. it this continuous today, the unions will inform their members again

What a weird country we live in when unions do not only want to negotiate about working procedures, but are also the ones giving instructions to the police on procedural matters. Very inefficient and undemocratic! I can't think of any other civilized country where unions are the ones giving procedural instructions to police.

Police should just do the job they're payed for and let the democratically elected officials decide which job that is (it's definitely not performing lunatic meaningless time-consuming checks). If they they don't want to do their job just fire them as would happen in any other civilized country. Unions are to blame!

Agreed!

[Inquirer]

I think its definitely good the airport is open again.
As more and more airlines return, so will passengers (offer always need to precede demand), and their presence will then create capacity problems like we saw yesterday which have to get fixed the next day.
It's only be being in operation that airlines can put pressure on the officials to be flexible and come up with solutions: we've seen that when they were keeping the airport closed for 2 extra days over union demands. No way those police unions would have ever risked shutting down the airport for that long, but when it was closed, it was easy for them to keep it closed. Now that its open again and more flights return, they will have to start backing off to a workable situation again, as I agree not much of what I saw is being done provides anyone using BRU with any extra security, other than the police officers inside the building.
Too bad it all takes so much time in this country: as I've said before, the cost of BRU being fully closed for some 10 days are manageable to all parties involved; the costs of all the inefficient procedures put in place for it to be allowed to open again, is potentially much higher. As such it's imperative to see tangible improvement on the passenger volumes handled and the delays these people suffer, in the next few days: otherwise some airlines which came back already (based on a sunk cost estimate and with good hopes of things returning to more or less normal over the next week) may decide to pull out again: THAT would be really bad, also PR wise, because then there are no terrorists to blame, just incompetence.

[b720]

The situation is untenable. If things at BRU do not change, SN can not continue.