Passenger flights to resume from Brussels

BRUSSELS — A partial, symbolic airline service will begin Sunday at Brussels Airport after a 12-day shutdown of passenger service caused by a deadly bombing attack.

Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Co., said the Brussels Airlines flights to Greece, Italy and Portugal were chiefly symbolic.

Effective Monday, Belgium’s biggest airport should be back at around 20 per cent of capacity, able to process 800 passengers an hour.

It has been closed since devastating suicide bombings in the airport’s main terminal and a Brussels subway killed 32 people and wounded 270 March 22. It was carried out by the terrorist group ISIL.

Feist called it “a sign of hope” and that even partial passenger service could resume so soon following what he called “the darkest days in the history of aviation in Belgium.”