Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, resumed operations yesterday afternoon (April 3) after a terrorist attack in the airport’s terminal claimed the lives of 16 people nearly two weeks earlier (March 22).
A flight operated by Brussels Airlines departed for Faro Airport in Portugal at 1:40pm and was given a salute of honor by the emergency services during a low-key reopening ceremony.
Speaking at the ceremony, Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company, the airport operator, said, “Thanks to this work, your work, we can today spread a message of hope. Today we show our strength, show that we have risen again, that we will not allow ourselves to be beaten. It is the start of a new beginning, even if there is still so much work to be done to return things to a normal situation, to the extent that it will ever again be normal.”
Marc Descheemaecker, chairman of the board of directors of Brussels Airport Company, said, “The attack has struck at the heart of everybody. But it is important to pick up the thread. Brussels Airport is the country’s second largest economic generator. The airport not only gives 20,000 people a job, but, thanks to the connectivity with the rest of the world, allows companies in our country to develop and grow.”