Brussels airport has reopened for three “symbolic” flights amid tight security controls, 12 days after an attack by suicide bombers killed 16 people there.
Three Brussels Airlines flights were scheduled to depart for European destinations. The first left at 11:40 GMT for Faro in Portugal.
Passengers were screened on an approach road and again before check in.
Attacks on the airport and a Brussels metro station by so-called Islamic State on 22 March left 32 people dead.
Airport workers gathered at Zaventem to watch the first flight take off.
The other two flights on Sunday are to Turin in northern Italy and Athens.
A passenger on the Athens flight, Loukas Bassoukos, told Agence France-Presse it was “a bit weird”.
“So many people died here. But I think we can overcome this. I think we slowly have to start trusting the security controls,” he said.
Airport chief executive Arnaud Feist said: “These flights are the first hopeful sign from an airport that is standing up straight after a cowardly attack.”
Brussels Airlines has estimated the closure of its hub has been costing it €5m ($5.7m) a day.
The stringent new security checks were put in place after police threatened to go on strike if measures were not improved.
Passengers were asked to arrive three hours before their flight departure time. They are only able to get to the airport by car or taxi – the terminal is still closed to trains and buses.
Late on Friday Belgian officials reached a deal with police unions on enhanced security at the airport.
Mr Feist said he hoped the airport would get back up to full capacity in time for the start of the summer holidays at the end of June.(BBC News)
L:ink: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35951454
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