On 4 November 2025, drones were sighted in the airspace above Brussels Airport Zaventem, prompting the airport to suspend all departing and incoming flights twice. While the airport has reopened, delays are to be expected, and Belgium’s Security Council has organised an emergency meeting.
The first drone sighting at Brussels Airport Zaventem happened just before 8:00 pm on Tuesday, 4 November 2025. Overall, three drones were seen flying through its airspace, causing the airport to cancel all departing and incoming flights. The airport first reopened just after 9:00 pm, but had to close again soon after due to a new sighting. Flight traffic resumed somewhere around 11:30 pm.
During the time of Brussels Airport’s closure, incoming flights were diverted to nearby airports such as Maastricht (Netherlands), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Charleroi Brussels South (Belgium).
Flights were halted at Brussels Airport after multiple drone sightings stranding passengers as officials probe suspected deliberate disruption https://t.co/J7EWkytQte pic.twitter.com/xAiDELnOx1
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 5, 2025
“Eight flights had to be diverted to alternative airports such as Ostend, Charleroi and Eindhoven. We now have to wait and see when Brussels Airport will reopen. We hope that these aircraft will be able to take off again to complete their journey to Brussels. If that is not possible, these passengers will have to spend the night in a hotel and return to Brussels tomorrow. It is a challenging situation for everyone at the airport. We want to take the best possible care of our passengers, but there is little we can do”, Nico Cardone, spokesperson for Brussels Airlines, said at the time.
Multiple take-offs were cancelled or delayed as well, resulting in longs queues at the airport and some confusion among passengers. According to the Belgian news site VRT NWS, some 500 to 1,000 passengers spent the night at the airport. On the morning of Wednesday 5 November, the consequences of the closures were still tangible, causing some 40 cancellations and multiple delays.
With Brussels, Charleroi, and Liege not accepting flights until at least 0100 UTC, 30 flights in the air right now will need to find alternate aerodromes. pic.twitter.com/80lzs0cSfi
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) November 4, 2025
Security Council
During the closure of Brussel Airport Zaventem’s airspace, other drone sightings were registered at several smaller Belgian airports such as the air force base in Kleine-Brogel, the air force base in Florennes, and the airport of Liège.
Following those events, Belgian Secretary of State for the Home Department Bernard Quintin asked prime minister Bart De Wever to convene the Security Council for an emergency meeting. The prime minister has accepted that request and according to Bernard Quintin, the Security Council will take place either on 5 November 2025 or on 6 November. Meanwhile, the National Crisis Centre has been activated and is in charge of the matter.
