Belgian airspace reopens after closure forced PM Fico's flight to return to Slovakia
BRUSSELS — Belgian airspace has reopened after a technical issue with the air traffic controllers' Skeyes computer system forced its closure for just over an hour.Flights were unable to take off or land at any of the country's main airports but a Skeyes spokesperson said a system reboot meant flights were gradually returning to normal."Due to a technical problem with the air traffic controller, air traffic in Belgium was temporarily suspended this afternoon after 12pm and is now slowly being resumed," said Brussels Airport spokesperson, Ihsane Chioua Lekhli."So the impact for us was that some flights were delayed, from 20 minutes to one hour and two flights were diverted to Lille airport. We'll inform our passengers and now the situation is gradually stabilising."All aircraft flying in Belgian airspace that Skeyes controls were diverted to neighbouring countries using a back-up system.Brussels Airport, Belgium's largest, says there may still be some delays while air traffic control clears the backlog and has advised passengers to check with their airlines for updates."We are back in business," said Skeyes spokesperson Kurt Verwilligen."The system is operational again and is stable. Air traffic can gradually restart."The system outage also forced a plane carrying Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico to turn around and head home.Fico was travelling to Brussels for a scheduled meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen.Ficos's views on Russia have sharply differed from the European mainstream.He returned to power in 2023 after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won the parliamentary election on a pro-Russia and anti-America platform.Since then, he has ended Slovakian military aid for Ukraine, lashed out at EU sanctions on Russia and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO.He's also been a vocal critic of Ukraine's decision to end the flow of Russian energy exports to Europe.After a meeting with Jørgensen in December, he reiterated that he is prepared to use sanctions to pressure Kyiv to reopen the pipelines carrying Russian supplies.He complained that Slovakia was set to lose millions of euros in transit fees because of the policy, and has even threatened to cut electricity supplies to Ukraine and cut support to Ukrainian refugees over the issue.Fico is a polarising figure in Slovakia and survived an assassination attempt in May 2024.
Fico's ally Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has told Brussels that a solution must be found if he is to consent to the renewal of sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now nearing the three-year mark. — Euronews
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