After snowfall on Wednesday evening and overnight, the country’s two major airports were at a standstill. Charleroi airport had to close the runway for an hour to de-ice it, while Brussels airport seems to be at a standstill for a more surprising situation.
Bernadette got up at 2:30 a.m. this Thursday morning to take a plane to Lisbon. “We were sitting on the plane at 5:45 a.m., the doors were closed. We had to take off at 6:00 a.m., everything was going well until then“, she says. A little later, she realized that her plane would be late…”They announced that the flight was going to leave at 7 a.m., then at 8 a.m., then at 9 a.m., then at 10 a.m., then at 11 a.m.she laments, indicating that passengers with only hand luggage could disembark if they wished, which she decided to do.”We received announcements from the captain who apologized for not being able to give more information, that we were waiting for the de-icing truck“, adds Bernadette.
It’s Belgian, it’s incredible
A situation that doesn’t really amuse him: “I don’t understand, I find it absurd. I’m tired, I want to go home. I got up at 2:30 this morning, so I can’t take it anymore. We have no valid explanation. I understand that a plane that spends the night on the ground, but we can’t find the truck, that there is no product and that it lasts five hours… here, it’s the Belgian way, It’s incredible”.
A de-icing truck would run out of fluid to spray plane wings. The problem is that to get supplies, a truck would have to transport the liquid… from Antwerp. “They told the passengers that the de-icing truck is out of fluid and that a replenishment is being done from Antwerp, but since the traffic is really bad, the truck is late“, explains Anthony.
The long-awaited truck
After more than five hours of waiting, an operational de-icing truck finally arrives to treat Bernadette’s plane. She should be able to get back on her plane to go home. “This is what we’ve been waiting for for 5 hours“, she jokes. “The departure should become clearer.“
Many flights grounded
The situation was very confusing this Thursday morning, we received many of your messages via Alert Us, particularly from Grégory. He was scheduled to take off this Thursday morning at 7 a.m. towards Madrid from Brussels airport. But, according to him, his plane is grounded due to weather conditions. “Brussels airport is at a standstill because the tractors to clear snow from the runway are not working“, testifies the traveler.
An almost comical situation, if it did not have such a significant impact on travelers. “According to the crew, one of the machines is broken and the other cannot be found. So we’re stuck on the plane. It’s still incredible, it’s mind-blowing.”he believes.
The pilot does not understand
All flights would therefore be grounded. Alberto’s plane is also blocked, he was already more than an hour late around 8 a.m., with no departure estimate. He doesn’t mince his words: “Snow has been forecast for several days, but no de-icing trucks are available. All flights are waiting on the ground”, deplores Alberto. Comments corroborated by Jonathan who was to leave Brussels to fly to Madrid: “It seems that there is only one truck to de-ice all the planes and this truck has a problem, the pilot does not understand this problem and is very embarrassed. relate-t-il. “The sun will do the job faster than the staff at this airport!”
It appears that the airport does indeed have a problem with one or more machines for de-icing planes. Imane is in one of them, on the tarmac, she explains to us: “A machine was supposed to arrive to de-ice the wings, but this machine was broken and they had to send another one. Since then, we haven’t heard anything,” she indicates. “People are starting to get angry, babies are crying and we have no water.”
Contacted by us, the airport does not confirm these specific problems, but says it is investigating the situation. The spokesperson explains, however, that delays are to be deplored due to winter conditions overnight. “Our teams are doing everything they can to minimize the impact of the weather on the airport to guarantee the safety of passengers,” announces Jeffrey Franssens, spokesperson for Brussels Airport.
Problem solved in Charleroi
The situation was slightly less chaotic at Charleroi airport. The flights were interrupted for a little over an hour, between 6:30 a.m. and 7:36 a.m. Snow covered the slopes, making them unusable. “The SPW which analyzes the track indicates that the conditions are not good and it is not safe“, explains Nathalie Pierard, spokesperson for Charleroi airport. “We cleared the snow at night but during inspections we found that it was too icy“, she laments.
“We are waiting for the product to work, our defrosting team has spread special products“. At 7:36 a.m., the situation was restored. Fortunately for the airport, the delays were not too significant: “We’re trying to catch up. By the end of the morning, it should be restored, we are in a period where there are not many flights“, indicates the spokesperson. Around fifteen flights were scheduled to use the runway at Charleroi airport this morning from 6:30 a.m. to 7:36 a.m. Some were up to two hours late. Landings were not affected.
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