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Brussels Airport has been closed and all flights grounded after the reported sighting of a drone, Belgian air site visitors management has mentioned.
“There are not any flights presently touchdown or taking off,” mentioned the spokeswoman, including she couldn’t estimate how lengthy the airport would stay closed.
The smaller Liege Airport additionally mentioned it was presently closed after drones had been seen.
Kurt Verwilligen, a spokesperson for the Belgian air site visitors management service, mentioned that shortly earlier than 7pm GMT a drone had been seen close to Brussels Airport, and the airport had due to this fact been closed as a safety precaution.
Flight knowledge on the Brussels Airport web site reveals a variety of delayed and cancelled flights, with FlightRadar24 reporting some have been diverted. Positioned 12 kilometres northeast of Brussels, the airport is a significant hub for worldwide journey, serving areas together with the UK, Dubai, and Turkey.
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A message on the airport’s web site reads: “There are presently no departing or arriving flights at Brussels Airport on account of drone sightings across the airport. We are going to present updates as quickly as we now have extra data.”
The final flight that seems to have departed is the 19:30 to Prague, with the final arrival into the airport at 19:50 from the Spanish island of Tenerife.
It follows related closures within the Polish airport Lublin in September this yr after a number of Russian drones reportedly crossed into Polish territory, resulting in NATO fighter jets being scrambled to intercept them.
Following the incident, the Polish navy’s operational command posted on X that ground-based air defence techniques have been on excessive alert, stressing that “these actions are preventive in nature” to safe Poland’s airspace and shield its residents.
In September, Copenhagen Airport and Oslo Airport needed to be closed briefly because of drone sightings, whereas drones have been additionally seen over a Belgian navy air base final weekend.
The character of any drone incursion and what number of drones might have been concerned shouldn’t be but clear.
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