Brussels’ bomb-damaged airport won’t return to full capacity for “months” following the March 22 terror attacks, Brussels Airport CEO said Tuesday.
Whenever the airport does reopen, Brussels Airport CEO Arnaud Feist said it will be operating at only about 20% of capacity. And it will take significantly longer before the airport can handle its normal flight and passenger loads.
"It'll take months before we are running at full capacity,” Feist said Wednesday, according to the BBC.
On Tuesday, hopes that Brussels could resume some flights by Wednesday were dashed when the airport announced it would remain closed at least until Thursday. Airport staff were performing tests Tuesday on makeshift check-in and security areas that will be used temporarily once the airport reopens to passengers.
The temporary facilities will allow the airport to restart with the ability to process 800 to 1,000 passengers per hour for check-in and security. That's a greatly reduced number compared to Brussels' typical average of 5,000 passengers per hour.
"The provisional structure will not be able to absorb the usual number we had before the attacks," Feist told media on tuesday, according to the BBC. "Although the structure of the building is intact, it will all have to be rebuilt, from the air conditioning to the check-in desks. And that will take months.”
When it opens, the first few initial flights will first go to Belgian flag carrier Brussels Airlines, an airport spokesperson tells Reuters. Brussels Air operates its main hub at the airport. It has made a limited return to service since the March 22 attacks by shifting a portion of its intra-Europe flights to two smaller Belgian airports and some of its long-haul flights to Frankfurt and Zurich, hubs of partners Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines, respectively.
As capacity expands, flights on other carriers will be added to the mix.
But even when Brussels Airport reopens, one prominent U.S.-based business travel columnist warned of possible headaches.
Joe Brancatelli, who runs the popular JoeSentMe.com site for business travelers, advised his readers “it might be best to avoid Brussels Airport even if you need to get to the Belgian capital.”
“Conditions are likely to be rudimentary and security strictures draconian,” he added in an e-mail to readers.
He suggested those who need to travel to Brussels instead consider flying to Amsterdam or Paris and then traveling by car, bus or rail to their destinations in the Brussels metro area.
