Editorial pack · DroneLedger
Brussels Airport shut twice after drone sightings; Liège airport also suspends flights
Current state
On the evening of 4 November 2025 Belgium's air traffic control agency Skeyes halted traffic at Brussels Airport after a drone was seen near the airport. Public broadcaster RTBF reported that Brussels and the nearby Liège airport reopened after an hour and closed again after a second sighting, with normal operations resuming around 23:00. It was the first time Brussels Airport had been shut because of drones.
Evidence states
| Drone presence | reported · sources [1], [2] |
|---|---|
| Impact | confirmed · sources [2], [3] |
| Attribution | suspected · sources [1], [3] |
Brussels Airport said 54 flights were cancelled because of the shutdown, and that about 400 to 500 travellers spent the night there after 41 flights were cancelled and 24 diverted. FlightAware counted 59 cancelled and 43 delayed flights at Brussels on Tuesday. The prime minister convened the National Security Council.
Skeyes said all air traffic was halted for safety reasons after a drone sighting, and RTBF reported two sightings. Authorities released little information about the sightings. The airport's own cancellation and diversion figures differ between statements and from FlightAware's count.
Claims
3 sources · 5 original statements. Sources that repeat the same statement count once.
| Claim and source passage | Original source | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Skeyes, Belgium's air traffic control agency, said all air traffic was halted for safety reasons. “For safety reasons, all air traffic has been halted for the time being” [1] | Skeyes spokesperson (relayed) | supports: Statement by the air traffic control agency; it does not describe the drone or its number. |
| RTBF reported that a drone was first spotted near Brussels Airport at 8pm, followed by an incident at Liège. “A drone was first spotted near Brussels airport at 8pm (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening, followed by another incident at the nearby Liege airport” [2] | RTBF, via Al Jazeera (relayed) | supports: A sighting reported by the public broadcaster; no independent technical confirmation is cited. |
| Brussels Airport said 54 flights were cancelled because of the Tuesday evening shutdown. “Brussels Airport said that 54 flights were canceled as a result of the Tuesday evening shutdown” [3] | Brussels Airport (relayed) | supports: The same AP report quotes 41 cancelled and 24 diverted flights; Al Jazeera cites FlightAware counts of 59 cancelled and 43 delayed. The figures are not reconciled. |
| The AP reported that the operators of the drones in recent days had not been identified. “The operators of the drones in recent days have not been identified” [3] | Associated Press | context: The same sentence adds that the defence minister said this was not the work of amateurs, without elaborating. |
| Anonymous State Security Services sources told Belga that the agency suspects foreign state actors, likely Russia. “Sources from Belgium's State Security Services told Belgian media outlet Belga News on Nov. 5 that the agency suspects that foreign state actors, likely Russia, to be behind the incidents.” [1] | Unnamed State Security Services sources, via Belga (relayed) | supports: Anonymous sourcing and a suspicion, not an official attribution. |
Not established
The number and type of drones, where they came from and who operated them are not established, and no imagery or technical detection data has been published in the cited sources. Reports differ on the number of cancelled flights.
No one claimed responsibility and no official attribution has been published. The defence minister said it was not the work of amateurs without elaborating. According to the Kyiv Independent, sources from Belgium's State Security Services told Belga that the agency suspects foreign state actors, likely Russia; this rests on anonymous sourcing.
Chronology
- 04 Nov 2025: A drone was first spotted near Brussels Airport at about 20:00 and flights were suspended; Liège Airport also closed after a sighting. [2]
- 04 Nov 2025: Both airports reopened at about 21:00 and shut again at about 22:00 after a second sighting; normal operations resumed at about 23:00, according to RTBF. [2]
- 05 Nov 2025: Brussels Airport said 54 flights were cancelled; the prime minister called a meeting of the National Security Council for Thursday. [3]
- 05 Nov 2025: Sources from the State Security Services told Belga News that the agency suspects foreign state actors, likely Russia, according to the Kyiv Independent. [1]
Sources
- Kyiv Independent: Belgium shuts down Brussels Airport due to suspicious drone sighting, suspect Russian involvement (2025-11-04, source family: skeyes)
https://kyivindependent.com/belgium-shuts-down-brussels-airport-due-to-suspicious-drone-sighting/ - Al Jazeera: Belgian airports disrupted by unidentified drone flights (2025-11-05, source family: rtbf)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/5/belgian-airports-disrupted-by-unidentified-drone-flights - Associated Press via WSLS: Drone sightings force fresh flight cancellations at Belgium's main airport (2025-11-05, source family: brussels-airport)
https://www.wsls.com/news/world/2025/11/05/drone-sightings-force-fresh-flight-cancellations-at-belgiums-main-airport/
How to cite
DroneLedger. “Brussels Airport shut twice after drone sightings; Liège airport also suspends flights.” Dossier brussels-airport-closures-2025-11-04, revision 1, updated 12 Oct 2026. https://droneincidents.com/incident/brussels-airport-closures-2025-11-04/v1/
Editorial changes
- Revision 1 (2026-10-12): Curated dossier created after checking the cited sources line by line.
Evidence states: confirmed = established by the cited evidence; reported = stated by a source, not independently established; inconclusive; debunked; unknown. A claim by a party to a conflict remains a claim. Methodology: https://droneincidents.com/methodology/