Brussels Airport Departures Hall Partially Reopens After Terrorist Attacks

The departures hall of the Brussels Zaventem airport has partially reopened following deadly terrorist attacks in March, the airport management said in a press release.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The statement adds that the work to restore the departure hall at the airport continues. It is scheduled to be completed by early summer.

Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at Zaventem Airport, in these undated photos made available to Reuters by the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2016.

© REUTERS / Het Nieuwsblad

"Brussels Airport this afternoon officially reopened the departures hall during a short reopening ceremony. Following the ceremony a few hundred passengers could check in from the departures hall again. The reopening of the departures hall is an important symbol of the recovery of our country a mere 40 days after the 22 March attacks that hit the airport in its heart," the statement said.

A total of 32 died in two bombings at the Brussels airport and at a metro station on March 22, most of them Belgians. Ibrahim Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui detonated their explosives at the airport, killing themselves and 15 people around them, while the third suicide bomber, Mohamed Abrini, failed and was arrested earlier in April.