Belgium’s busiest airport, Brussels, was forced to halt arrivals and departures for several hours on Tuesday evening after drone sightings caused widespread disruption, leading to dozens of flight cancellations. The closure also affected Liège airport, a key freight hub, with further cancellations, delays and diversions reported.
The incident is the latest in a series of drone incursions across Europe since mid-September, with sightings in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Norway and Spain. In Belgium, drones were also spotted at the Schaffen military airbase and at Kleine-Brogel, home to F-16 jets and reported to store US nuclear weapons.
Belgium’s defence minister, Theo Francken, told a parliamentary committee that the sightings appeared coordinated, involving large drones flying in formation, and were consistent with hybrid techniques seen elsewhere. A source told Belga news agency that security services had “little doubt” a state actor, “very probably Russia”, was behind the recent sightings.
The Belgian government has not formally attributed blame, but tensions with Russia have risen, with Francken recently calling Moscow’s threats exaggerated. The national security council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday, chaired by prime minister Bart De Wever, to address the security concerns.
Interior minister Bernard Quintin said the repeated drone incidents “directly affected the security of our country”, and called for a calm and coordinated response. Brussels airport warned passengers of further possible disruptions, with 95 flights cancelled and hundreds forced to spend the night at the terminal.
