Europe flight hell as air traffic control above country goes down indefinitely

All flights from a major European airport have been suspended following a so-called 'glitch' which has caused huge technical issues.

Brussels Airport recently confirmed that currently there is "no air traffic" in the entire country. A statement read: "Due to a technical problem at air traffic control, no air traffic is currently possible in Belgium. We have no idea yet how long this will last. Further updates will follow as soon as more information is available."

Officials are working on getting the technical issue sorted, but there is no saying when the incident might be resolved. People hoping to travel to or from Belgium today are warned to contact their airline for further information.

A worker at Brussels Airport told broadcaster VRT that it became clear at about 3pm local time that the air traffic control system used to manage Belgian airspace was "not functioning properly." So far, the glitch in the system has not been fully explained.

The spokesperson said all planes, helicopters and other aircrafts operating within the airspace controlled by Skeyes at the time of the glitch were rerouted to neighbouring countries. In emergencies, they have a back up systems, which aids pilots in these situations.

The aircrafts were around 7,500metres at the time, but are all thought to have made their way safely to ground.

Belgium’s main airports are in Brussels (Zaventem) and Charleroi, with smaller airports in Antwerp, Liege and Ostend. All air traffic is thought to have come to a complete halt, with no news on when they'd return.

One passenger, thought to have been in a plane at the time of the 'glitch' shared their experience on X. They wrote: "On the runway in Brussels seconds from take off and then we stop and move to the taxi lane. Apparently all radio comms are down in the area."

Following this, they added: "Brussels airspace is closed." A second user warned of chaos, writing: "The temporary closure led to widespread disruption for flights covering several routes in and out of Belgium."

While this incident follows the plane crash in Washington on Wednesday night, the emergencies are not said to be connected, with Belgium struggling with radio signals on their flights.