10 days after attacks, airport remains closed

Associated Press

BRUSSELS

Struck by suicide bombers 10 days ago, the airport known as “the heart of Europe” has stopped beating temporarily, causing headaches for thousands of business and vacation travelers, and painful financial losses for Belgium’s capital and tourism industry.

It’s still unclear when Brussels Airport will reopen. But a key hurdle appeared to have been cleared Friday evening when police unions, which had threatened a strike, reached a preliminary deal with government negotiators on how to bolster security to minimize more violence. The agreement, which must be formally approved by both sides, calls in part for hiring 200 additional airport police officers, said Stephane Deldicque, an official with the CSC Public Service Union.

A Belgian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, told The Associated Press things now appeared on track for passenger service to resume at a reduced level Sunday morning.

Patrick Bontinck, general manager of Visit Brussels, the official municipal tourist organization, said hotel reservations have dropped by half since the March 22 attacks at the airport and the Brussels Metro, meaning a loss of 8,000-10,000 visitors a day to the city that is home to the headquarters of the European Union and U.S.-led NATO alliance, and styles itself as “the capital of Europe.”

One cause for the drop in business, Bontinck said, is the suspension of the 600 daily passenger flights to and from the Brussels Airport, transporting more than 1.5 million passengers in February. But he said there has also been an overall “decline in image” for Belgium’s capital, a popular destination for lovers of beer, chocolate and Flemish art and architecture. The city has been identified in countless international media accounts as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism.

Brussels may not be the only capital to be suffering economic consequences from the bloodiest explosion of extremist violence in Belgium since World War II. Bontinck said figures received by his office indicated hotel reservations over the same period dropped 35 percent in Paris, 38 percent in Berlin and 29 percent in London.

“The impact is general,” he said.