Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI) ended 2025 with a nationwide yellow alert for icy roads and light snow—a warning that technically expired just after lunch on New Year’s Eve but continues to snarl post-holiday mobility. Highway operator Viapass reported a string of minor accidents on the E40 near Namur, while rail-infrastructure manager Infrabel imposed a 20 km/h speed cap on exposed tracks in Wallonia, adding up to ten minutes to inter-city journeys.
At Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and Liège Cargo Airport, ground-handling crews battled lengthening de-icing queues. Brussels Airlines told passengers to arrive an extra hour early, noting that each aircraft now requires an average of 14 minutes of glycol spraying—double the normal turnaround. Although the carrier maintained its full holiday schedule thanks to newly-acquired glycol-recycling trucks, operations managers warned that any further temperature drop could force tactical cancellations.
![Ice Alert Slows Belgian Airports and Rail as New-Year Travellers Head Home]()
For business-travel coordinators, the bigger headache is missed connections: Zaventem’s role as a hub for Africa and North America means a delayed morning bank of flights can cascade into project kick-off disruptions the following week. Corporations are already advising key staff to build contingency overnights or re-route via Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Logistics providers face a similar challenge. Cold-chain shippers exporting biopharma products from Wallonia have activated “hot-shot” trucking to Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle to guarantee transit-time stability, while express integrators in Liège reported up to 45-minute backlogs on pallet clearance.
KMI forecasts slightly milder conditions for 2 January, but airport operator Aviapartner says it will keep extra staff and mobile de-icing rigs on standby overnight—a first real-world test of the winter-resilience protocol introduced after last January’s storm. Mobility managers should monitor carrier apps and consider flexible return-to-office policies if delays persist.
At Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and Liège Cargo Airport, ground-handling crews battled lengthening de-icing queues. Brussels Airlines told passengers to arrive an extra hour early, noting that each aircraft now requires an average of 14 minutes of glycol spraying—double the normal turnaround. Although the carrier maintained its full holiday schedule thanks to newly-acquired glycol-recycling trucks, operations managers warned that any further temperature drop could force tactical cancellations.
For business-travel coordinators, the bigger headache is missed connections: Zaventem’s role as a hub for Africa and North America means a delayed morning bank of flights can cascade into project kick-off disruptions the following week. Corporations are already advising key staff to build contingency overnights or re-route via Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Logistics providers face a similar challenge. Cold-chain shippers exporting biopharma products from Wallonia have activated “hot-shot” trucking to Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle to guarantee transit-time stability, while express integrators in Liège reported up to 45-minute backlogs on pallet clearance.
KMI forecasts slightly milder conditions for 2 January, but airport operator Aviapartner says it will keep extra staff and mobile de-icing rigs on standby overnight—a first real-world test of the winter-resilience protocol introduced after last January’s storm. Mobility managers should monitor carrier apps and consider flexible return-to-office policies if delays persist.
Source: VisaHQ Global Mobility News
