Belgium: Brussels Airport reopens with three flights

Brussels Airport reopened on Sunday, 12 days after suicide bombers badly damaged its departure hall and killed 16 people. Belgium's main airport says it aims to return to maximum capacity before the start of the busy summer travel season at the end of June or early July. The airport had not handled passenger flights since suspected Islamist militants carried out the suicide attacks. On Sunday, the airport handled just three flights, the first to Faro in Portugal with only about 80 passengers. The plane bore a surrealist design of clouds and birds in homage to Belgian painter Rene Magritte and had only been unveiled the day before the bombings. It taxied towards the runway flanked by staff and, after a minute's silence, took off. The first passengers for nearly two weeks fed into a vast temporary marquee housing security controls and check-in facilities. Arnaud Feist, the airport's CE, described Sunday's reopening as a sign of hope and an emotional moment for all airport staff. On Monday, the airport will serve a wider range of destinations, including one plane due out to New York and two more to cities in Cameroon, Gambia and Senegal.<br/>