Europe

Test scheduled for partial reopening of Brussels airport

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Blown out windows are seen behind as Secretary of State John Kerry arrives to participates in wreath-laying at Brussels Airport in Brussels, Belgium, Friday, March 25, 2016, paying his respect to victims of terrorist attacks that left more than 30 dead at Brussels Airport. Also pictured is Brussels Airport CEO Feist Arnaud, left. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) (The Associated Press)

In this image provided by the Belgian Federal Police in Brussels on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 of three men who are suspected of taking part in the attacks at Belgium's Zaventem Airport. The website of Belgium's Federal Police on Monday, March 28 began carrying a 32-second video of a mysterious man in a hat suspected of having taking part in the March 22 bombing of Brussels Airport. "The police are seeking to identify this man," the site says. The implication is that the suspected accomplice of the two airport suicide bombers could still be at large. (Belgian Federal Police via AP) (The Associated Press)

A man walks at a memorial site at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels, Sunday, March 27, 2016. In a sign of the tensions in the Belgian capital and the way security services are stretched across the country, Belgium's interior minister appealed to residents not to march Sunday in Brussels in solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (The Associated Press)

A week after devastating suicide bomb attacks, Brussels Airport will test its capacity to partially resume passenger service. But it's too early to say when service might actually resume, an airport official said Monday.

Florence Muls, the airport's external communications manager, said 800 staff members on Tuesday will test temporary infrastructure and new arrangements designed for passenger check-in. The Belgian government must approve the new system, Muls said, before Brussels Airport can resume handling passenger traffic.

Two suicide bombers on March 22 caused great damage to the airport's departure hall, and along with another suicide bomber who blew himself up on a Brussels subway train, killed at least 31 people and injured some 270.