Skeyes

History

2025: Stoppage of flights in Belgium due to IT collapse

On January 30, 2025, air traffic in the airspace over Belgium was completely stopped due to a large-scale technical failure. Planes could not land or take off at the country's main airports, including Brussels' air harbor.

It is reported that problems arose in the computer system of the Skeyes air traffic control company, which is responsible for airspace control and air navigation infrastructure. The Skeyes platform controls the flights of airliners at an altitude of up to 7,500 meters. Due to the failure, all aircraft located in the airspace over Belgium were redirected to neighboring countries using a reserve system.

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Фото: Freepik

The problem affected all the largest airports in Belgium - in Antwerp, Liege, Charleroi and Ostend, as well as Brussels Airport, located in the city of Zaventem. Due to the failure, negotiations between Prime Minister Slovakia Robert Fico and representatives did not take place: of the European Commission his plane, heading to Brussels, was forced to turn around and return to Slovakia.

Due to technical problems in air traffic control, air traffic is currently impossible in Belgium. We do not yet know how long this will last, "Brussels Airport said in a statement.

According to available information, a large-scale failure may be associated with an attempt to update a computer system. For an unknown reason, errors occurred during this procedure: as a result, the entire system failed, and the screens in the control center went out.

Our absolute priority is flight safety. Therefore, it was decided to completely clear the airspace over Belgium, - emphasizes the representative of Skeyes Kurt Verwilligen[1]

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