Air traffic over a large part of Europe halted due to glitch
Chaos has crippled Belgium’s skies, grounding all flights amid a critical air traffic control failure.
There is currently no air traffic going through the major European transport hub due problem.
This means that no aircraft – commercial, private, or cargo – are allowed to take off, land, or fly through the airspace.
Brussels Airport confirmed that officials have no idea how long this will continue.
A statement added: ‘Due to a technical problem at air traffic control, no air traffic is currently possible in Belgium.
‘We have no idea yet how long this will last. Further updates will follow as soon as more information is available.’
A spokesperson told local news broadcaster VRT that it became clear at about 3pm local time that the air traffic control system used to manage Belgian airspace was ‘not functioning properly’.
He added that all aircraft operating within the airspace controlled by Skeyes at that time – up to an altitude of approximately 7,500 metres – were rerouted to neighbouring countries using a back-up system.
Work is currently ongoing to ‘gradually restart’ the systems after the malfunction.
Belgium’s main airports are in Brussels (Zaventem) and Charleroi, with smaller airports in Antwerp, Liege and Ostend.
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