BREAKING NEWS

Brussels airport reopening dispute resolved after agreement to screen all passengers

By REUTERS

APRIL 1, 2016 23:55

BRUSSELS- Brussels main airport is likely to reopen on Sunday after police and the government resolved a dispute over security following the March 22 bomb attacks, agreeing that all passengers would be screened on arrival.

The airport has not handled passenger flights since two suspected Islamist militants carried out the suicide attacks. Those bombs and a separate one on a metro train in the city killed 35 people and wounded scores of others.

The airport, whose departure hall was destroyed in the blasts, has built a temporary check-in zone, conducted tests and had declared itself ready to restart flights, with a provisional restart set for Friday evening.

However, airport police threatened to strike over what they saw as lax security measures. The deadlock was only broken after talks between police union leaders and the government on Friday evening.

"We have reached agreement with the prime minister and the interior minister," Jan Adam, a leader of the ACV Politie union. "I envisage that the airport would reopen on Sunday."

The federal police, whose officers work in the airport, wanted passengers to be checked outside the new departure zone. But the airport authorities had said this would mean passengers waiting too long and simply shift the security threat from inside to outside the area

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