Liège/Brussels – Belgium’s two busiest cargo gateways were briefly synchronised—not by timetables but by a simultaneous drone scare. At 21:20 CET, Skeyes imposed a 30-minute traffic freeze at Brussels Airport after a confirmed drone radar trace; within forty minutes Liège Airport, Europe’s fifth-largest air-freight hub, registered its own sighting and enacted the same procedure.
Passenger impact was limited—eight departures and twenty-two arrivals at Brussels were delayed—but freight carriers faced a tighter squeeze. Night-time slots at Liège are coveted by express integrators; DHL and FedEx each shifted multiple wide-body movements to alternate airports, adding cost and risking next-day delivery guarantees for high-value electronics and healthcare shipments.
![Simultaneous drone alerts disrupt Brussels and Liège airports]()
Aviation unions renewed calls for a dedicated counter-drone unit permanently based at the two airports. Logistics lobby Air Cargo Belgium warned that recurring disruptions threaten the country’s reputation as a reliable pharma-logistics hub. If delays continue, multinational shippers could re-route temperature-sensitive goods via Amsterdam or Frankfurt, it said.
Federal Police investigators are analysing flight-path data to determine whether both sightings were coordinated. Government officials declined to speculate but did not rule out a deliberate attempt to test Belgian response times.
Passenger impact was limited—eight departures and twenty-two arrivals at Brussels were delayed—but freight carriers faced a tighter squeeze. Night-time slots at Liège are coveted by express integrators; DHL and FedEx each shifted multiple wide-body movements to alternate airports, adding cost and risking next-day delivery guarantees for high-value electronics and healthcare shipments.
Aviation unions renewed calls for a dedicated counter-drone unit permanently based at the two airports. Logistics lobby Air Cargo Belgium warned that recurring disruptions threaten the country’s reputation as a reliable pharma-logistics hub. If delays continue, multinational shippers could re-route temperature-sensitive goods via Amsterdam or Frankfurt, it said.
Federal Police investigators are analysing flight-path data to determine whether both sightings were coordinated. Government officials declined to speculate but did not rule out a deliberate attempt to test Belgian response times.
