Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI) issued a nationwide yellow weather warning on the morning of 31 December, forecasting sub-zero road temperatures and light snow flurries across the Ardennes and the High Fens. Although the alert officially expired at 13:00 CET, its impact is spilling over into New-Year traffic flows.
Highway agency Viapass reported several minor accidents on the E40 near Namur and advised motorists returning from holiday to reduce speed, while rail-infrastructure manager Infrabel imposed a 20 km/h speed restriction on exposed tracks in Wallonia—adding up to ten minutes to inter-city journeys.
If the weather disruption forces travelers to reroute through unexpected hubs or overstay due to missed connections, VisaHQ can streamline any sudden visa or transit-pass needs. The company’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) provides rapid online applications and real-time status updates for Schengen and other travel documents, helping stranded passengers resolve bureaucracy before it derails their onward plans.
![Ice alert triggers travel advisories and de-icing queues at Belgian airports]()
At Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and Liège Cargo Airport, ground-handling teams battled lengthening de-icing queues. Brussels Airlines warned passengers to arrive an extra hour early, noting that each aircraft required an average of 14 minutes of de-icing, compared with the normal seven. The carrier nevertheless maintained its full holiday schedule, crediting its new glycol-recycling trucks for faster turnaround.
For business-travel managers, the bigger concern is knock-on disruption to connecting itineraries: Zaventem handles a large share of hub-and-spoke traffic for Africa and the United States, and a missed morning connection can cascade into missed project kick-offs next week. Multinationals with critical personnel movements are being advised to monitor airline apps and consider re-routing via Amsterdam or Frankfurt if delays persist.
Although the KMI forecasts slightly warmer conditions for 2 January, ground-services provider Aviapartner is keeping additional staff on standby overnight to pre-position de-icing rigs—the first operational test of its winter-readiness protocol introduced after last January’s storm-related disruptions.
Highway agency Viapass reported several minor accidents on the E40 near Namur and advised motorists returning from holiday to reduce speed, while rail-infrastructure manager Infrabel imposed a 20 km/h speed restriction on exposed tracks in Wallonia—adding up to ten minutes to inter-city journeys.
If the weather disruption forces travelers to reroute through unexpected hubs or overstay due to missed connections, VisaHQ can streamline any sudden visa or transit-pass needs. The company’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) provides rapid online applications and real-time status updates for Schengen and other travel documents, helping stranded passengers resolve bureaucracy before it derails their onward plans.
At Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and Liège Cargo Airport, ground-handling teams battled lengthening de-icing queues. Brussels Airlines warned passengers to arrive an extra hour early, noting that each aircraft required an average of 14 minutes of de-icing, compared with the normal seven. The carrier nevertheless maintained its full holiday schedule, crediting its new glycol-recycling trucks for faster turnaround.
For business-travel managers, the bigger concern is knock-on disruption to connecting itineraries: Zaventem handles a large share of hub-and-spoke traffic for Africa and the United States, and a missed morning connection can cascade into missed project kick-offs next week. Multinationals with critical personnel movements are being advised to monitor airline apps and consider re-routing via Amsterdam or Frankfurt if delays persist.
Although the KMI forecasts slightly warmer conditions for 2 January, ground-services provider Aviapartner is keeping additional staff on standby overnight to pre-position de-icing rigs—the first operational test of its winter-readiness protocol introduced after last January’s storm-related disruptions.
