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

[Kris]

This is outrageous! They just can't keep on checking like that? who does it anyway? they don't even do it in the US or TLV!

For my personal travel it's now waaaay more convenient to go to AMS,DUS,EIN,... rather than BRU with this at least 4h in advance rule and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one so a solution has to be found and rather quick before damage is done...

Damage is already done for business travellers I'm afraid. At our company, 95% of our flights is now done via Dusseldorf ( BRU on the nogo list ). I have 1 remaining trip outstanding via Brussels ( to CPH on june 6 ), booked before 22/03. It's a shame, and no reaction from the airport or SN, thus they are accepting this I suppose.

[avroflyer_1]

This is outrageous! They just can't keep on checking like that? who does it anyway? they don't even do it in the US or TLV!

For my personal travel it's now waaaay more convenient to go to AMS,DUS,EIN,... rather than BRU with this at least 4h in advance rule and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one so a solution has to be found and rather quick before damage is done...

Damage is already done for business travellers I'm afraid. At our company, 95% of our flights is now done via Dusseldorf ( BRU on the nogo list ). I have 1 remaining trip outstanding via Brussels ( to CPH on june 6 ), booked before 22/03. It's a shame, and no reaction from the airport or SN, thus they are accepting this I suppose.

It's a shame indeed, SN does not react publicly on it but rest assured that they do not accept it nor do all other airlines operating from BRU , they lose pax because of this cirque But an airline can only lobby for improvements but the final decision isn't up to the airline

[b-west]

Lines are at this moment considerably shorter, with all 3 tents open.

[Jetter]

Lines are at this moment considerably shorter, with all 3 tents open.

Even with short lines the checks you demanded are useless. It's time to stop this crazyness.

SN does not react publicly on it but rest assured that they do not accept it nor do all other airlines operating from BRU.

They did actually. http://nu.nl/terreur-in-europa/4255763/ ... ekhal.html
"Onder anderen de Belgische oud-premier Yves Leterme miste zijn vlucht. Luchtvaartmaatschappij Brussels Airlines noemt de lange wachtrijen "vanuit commercieel oogpunt niet houdbaar"."

[sean1982]

Lines are at this moment considerably shorter, with all 3 tents open.

Even with short lines the checks you demanded are useless. It's time to stop this crazyness.

Agreed. Queuing in Walibi is shorter

[sean1982]

Lines are at this moment considerably shorter, with all 3 tents open.

Even with short lines the checks you demanded are useless. It's time to stop this crazyness.

Agreed. Queuing in Walibi is shorter

[Shengenzone]

I work for a taxicompany and all our business clients are departing from AMS now.

[sn26567]

SN26557, are you departing today?

No, I'm departing tomorrow. And yesterday at the reopening ceremony, I spoke for a long time with the airport spokespersons (Florence Muls and Anke Fransen, hello if you read me). I explained to them what I read here: many people are disgusted by the long queues and moving to other airports. Their reply was that the airport has absolutely no say in what is happening and cannot do anything on their own: they are bound by police orders.

I saw during lunch time that even Yves Leterme missed his plane this morning, and he seemed to take the situation with philosophy: "I'll take the next plane".

I have a flight tomorrow at 09:25. I'll arrive 3 hours in advance, not one minute earlier. And see what happens. Expect a trip report

[flymd11]

Departing from BCN T1 a week ago on a non-Schengen departure (TK to IST) during the morning departure peak. From leaving the car in the car park to arriving at the gate took about 35 minutes. 15 minutes of that was spent dropping a bag (no status) and 7 minutes waiting at security.

That's how flying should be.

[Boeing767copilot]

And this is surely the quote of the year:

Marc Descheemaecker, Voorzitter Raad van Bestuur bij The Brussels Airport Company, on his FB-page:

Verdomme....40 dagen dag en nacht werken aan een heropening van de luchthaven en enkele stijfkoppen van de politie vakbonden houden vast aan dat dwaze pre check-in systeem. Schaf dat af....schaf dat af.....we schieten onszelf in de voet en maken ons belachelijk in het buitenland.....


(By Google Translate)
Damn .... 40 days work day and night to keep the reopening of the airport and a few stiff heads of the police unions stuck to that silly pre check-in system. Abolish it down .... abolish it down ..... we shoot ourselves in the foot and make us ridiculous abroad

[Jetter]

b-west You're from the police as well? Or did you decide to be a 'stijfkop' on your own?

[Shengenzone]

SN26557, are you departing today?

No, I'm departing tomorrow. And yesterday at the reopening ceremony, I spoke for a long time with the airport spokespersons (Florence Muls and Anke Fransen, hello if you read me). I explained to them what I read here: many people are disgusted by the long queues and moving to other airports. Their reply was that the airport has absolutely no say in what is happening and cannot do anything on their own: they are bound by police orders.

I saw during lunch time that even Yves Leterme missed his plane this morning, and he seemed to take the situation with philosophy: "I'll take the next plane".

I have a flight tomorrow at 09:25. I'll arrive 3 hours in advance, not one minute earlier. And see what happens. Expect a trip report

Will do exactly the same on thursdaymorning. Will check out your tripreport and compare.
We can see if there is improvement in the comming days.

[sn-remember]

Well it seems that the 2 main Belgian airports are outsourcing their security duties to the G4S company ..
So they do have some handle over the screening process ?
BSCA secured a comprehensive contract with them, similar to BRU it seems
NL: http://www.g4s.be/nl-BE/Media%20Centre/ ... 20Airport/
FR: http://www.g4s.be/fr-BE/Media%20Centre/ ... 20Airport/

[teach]

And this is surely the quote of the year:

Marc Descheemaecker, Voorzitter Raad van Bestuur bij The Brussels Airport Company, on his FB-page:

Verdomme....40 dagen dag en nacht werken aan een heropening van de luchthaven en enkele stijfkoppen van de politie vakbonden houden vast aan dat dwaze pre check-in systeem. Schaf dat af....schaf dat af.....we schieten onszelf in de voet en maken ons belachelijk in het buitenland.....


(By Google Translate)
Damn .... 40 days work day and night to keep the reopening of the airport and a few stiff heads of the police unions stuck to that silly pre check-in system. Abolish it down .... abolish it down ..... we shoot ourselves in the foot and make us ridiculous abroad

Damn! That shows very clearly that BRU management are VERY frustrated with the situation as well, and that they're basically being taken hostage by the police unions!

Isn't there anything we can do? I know it sounds corny, but a petition, facebook group, etc? Because this is getting completely out of hand, and will cost thousands and thousands of jobs. We need to do something!

[evyncke]

And this is surely the quote of the year:

Marc Descheemaecker, Voorzitter Raad van Bestuur bij The Brussels Airport Company, on his FB-page:

(By Google Translate)
Damn .... 40 days work day and night to keep the reopening of the airport and a few stiff heads of the police unions stuck to that silly pre check-in system. Abolish it down .... abolish it down ..... we shoot ourselves in the foot and make us ridiculous abroad

Damn! That shows very clearly that BRU management are VERY frustrated with the situation as well, and that they're basically being taken hostage by the police unions!

Isn't there anything we can do? I know it sounds corny, but a petition, facebook group, etc? Because this is getting completely out of hand, and will cost thousands and thousands of jobs. We need to do something!

Indeed, what can we do?

On my side (travelling 100k miles/year on Star Alliance, living in Liège, business travel, some friends at EBBR ATC and SN pilots), I am now flying from DUS: more expensive , smaller planes but hey I cannot miss a plane and cannot waste 1 hour in queue.

But, I am not proud of my current travel plans

[Shengenzone]

We should write an open letter to the politicians in the 3 official languages of Belgium.
Then share it massively and when it has a lot of shares send it to the Press.
This will have much more effect than a boring petition. And can go viral.
We could join together to make it a sponsored ad on facebook accros belgium.

[Boeing767copilot]

The Coordination Unit for Threat Assessment, or CUTA, has been operational since 1 December 2006 (rue de la Loi, 22 à 1000 Brussels). This unit, which replaces the Mixed Anti-Terrorism Group (AtG), draws up specific or strategic evaluations of terrorist and extremist threats in and to Belgium.
It largely proceeds on the basis of intelligence obtained from the supporting services, namely :

State Security
The General Intelligence and Security Service
The federal and local police
The Department of Customs and Excise of the FPS Finance
The Department of Federal Immigration of the FPS Interior
The FPS Mobility and Transport
The FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
The threat assessments are intended for the various political, administrative and judicial authorities that are invested with some responsibility for security. The aforementioned authorities ultimately have to take appropriate measures to ward off any threats detected. The unit is under the joint authority of the Ministers of the Interior and Justice.

OCAM
Rue de la Loi 22
1000 Brussels
T : 02 / 238.56.11
E : [email protected]

[thalenoi]

And this is surely the quote of the year:

Marc Descheemaecker, Voorzitter Raad van Bestuur bij The Brussels Airport Company, on his FB-page:

Damn .... 40 days work day and night to keep the reopening of the airport and a few stiff heads of the police unions stuck to that silly pre check-in system. Abolish it down .... abolish it down ..... we shoot ourselves in the foot and make us ridiculous abroad

Someone has an emailaddress of one of these idiots of the police unions?

[Passenger]

Isn't there anything we can do? I know it sounds corny, but a petition, facebook group, etc? Because this is getting completely out of hand, and will cost thousands and thousands of jobs. We need to do something!

Yes. What you can do, is to send an email to your trade union, and tell them that you cancel your membership with them as per direct. Reason: their police union branch has created an extremely dangerous sitiation for you, by allowing a terrorist to walk into a crowd of thousands of people, with a suitcase full of explosives.

[Flanker2]

News reporting says that the bottleneck is the passport and ticket check.
This is not my experience as police officers do this quickly and efficiently.
The bottleneck is the first X-ray and metal detector screening after the passport check (at least in the temporary structure, but why would it be different upstairs?), conducted by G4S.

That is not the responsibility of police unions, but Brussels Airport security.

I think that BRU has enough staff if they want to. There are also many security lanes open at the airside screening, there were no queues there at all. They have many airside vehicle access checkpoints where the same staff and equipment is used.
So IMO they can easily close a few of them to forward security staff and equipment to where they are really needed.

Could it be that BRU is trying to avoid the pre-screening becoming permanent and hence intentionally making the queues build?
Operating an additional security layer would cost millions per year, so that could be a motivation. Also, a lot of non-flyers can't enter the departures hall and spend money at restaurants and coffee shops.

Will look forward to that trip report SN26557.