Mideast Conflict Costs Brussels Airport 50,000 Passengers

(MENAFN) Brussels Airport has shed approximately 50,000 passengers for the second consecutive month in April, as the spiraling conflict across the Middle East continued to ground regional flight operations, the airport operator announced Wednesday.

Suspended and reduced air links to key destinations across the region were cited as the primary driver of the decline, the operator said in a Tuesday statement.

"There are currently no flights to Tel Aviv or Doha and, although flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi have resumed in recent weeks, frequencies remain lower than last year. This situation once again resulted in a loss of 50,000 passengers in April," the statement said.

Despite the regional headwinds, Belgium's principal gateway still managed to outpace year-ago figures overall — total passenger traffic climbed 3.8 percent year on year in April, crossing the 2.2 million traveler threshold. Cargo operations also strengthened, with the airport processing 73,964 metric tons of freight, a gain of more than 6 percent compared to the same month last year.

The broader crisis traces back to February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran, prompting retaliatory strikes from Tehran against Israel and U.S. allies across the Gulf, while also triggering the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire brokered through Pakistani mediation took hold on April 8, though subsequent talks in Islamabad failed to yield a durable accord. U.S. President Donald Trump later extended the truce without setting a fixed expiration date.

With regional instability persisting, multiple carriers have halted flights to Middle Eastern and Gulf destinations, citing safety concerns.

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