500 people spent the night at Brussels Airport

An estimated 500 people spent last night at Brussels Airport, reports brusselnieuws.be. The travellers became stranded after yesterday’s power failure at air traffic controller Belgocontrol. The blackout, which was caused by an overload to the network during a test of the emergency generators, is expected to have a ripple effect in the coming days, with more disruption in the form of major delays at the airport.

The Belgian airspace capacity will remain limited at 75%, it was announced after a meeting between Belgocontrol and mobility minister Jacqueline Galant. In order to guarantee this capacity, Brussels Airport is utilizing two external generators.

The power failure on Wednesday affected about 25,000 passengers in total, as it caused hour-long delays and flight cancellations. Cots were provided for the majority of the 500 people who spent the night at the airport.