Brussels Airport said it will partially reopen on Sunday, 12 days after it was hit by Islamic State suicide blasts, as Belgian prosecutors charged a third suspect with terrorism over a foiled plot to attack France. The first three "symbolic flights" will begin departing from Sunday afternoon, Brussels Airport chief executive Arnaud Feist told reporters, adding that travellers will be subject to additional security checks as police had demanded.
"These flights are the first hopeful sign from an airport that is standing up straight after a cowardly attack," Feist said. Passengers will have to make use of a temporary check-in facility as the airport's departure hall was wrecked in the March 22 blasts that also struck a metro station in Brussels and killed 32 people.
The attacks came just four days after Belgium arrested the prime suspect in last November's Paris terror assaults and links have emerged between the attackers, exposing a web of cross-border jihadist networks. European authorities, under pressure to crack down on home-grown extremists, have carried out a number of raids and arrests since then, several of them linked to a foiled plot to attack France. In the latest development in the case, Belgian prosecutors Saturday charged a third suspect with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group" over the plot.
They man was named only as 35-year-old Y.A., who according to Belgian media was arrested in the centre of Brussels on Friday. The main plot suspect is Reda Kriket, who was arrested near Paris last week after police found an arsenal of weapons and explosives at his home. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said an imminent act of "extreme violence" had likely been prevented.
Brussels Airport had on Thursday already announced it was "technically ready" to resume partial services after testing the tent-like new departure hall. But police unions held up the restart, threatening to go on strike unless stricter checks were introduced. A deal with the government was reached late Friday, clearing the way for flights to resume.
One of the biggest changes will be that from now only passengers with tickets and ID documents are allowed into the new departure hall, and their bags will be checked before entering. Cars headed for the airport will be screened and police will carry out spot checks. The first scheduled flights on Sunday will fly to Athens, Turin and Faro and will be operated by Brussels Airlines, Feist said.
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