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European Airlines Boycott Valuable Freight at Brussels Airport
Twelve major European airlines are refusing to transport valuable goods such as diamonds and money to the Brussels international airport, the local press said Monday.
The airlines accused the airport authorities of failing to take any step to improve airport safety after armed robberies have taken place. Among the airlines to boycott the airport are the Belgian carrier Sabena, KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France. All of them believe that there is insufficient control on entry badges and cargo vehicles at the airport.
Brussels International Airport Company, BIAC, which runs the airport, said the boycott is unnecessary and the company is working to find solutions to fulfill international security norms.
In response to the boycott, the Belgian diamond industry said that it will have little effect on the diamond trade and that the industry will use other airports because of inadequate security at the Brussels airport.
The 12 airlines decided to temporarily halt all valuable shipments to Brussels on July 1 until a "substantial improvement" in airport security is made, Rene Fennes of the 29-member Association of European Airlines (AEA) told a press conference over the weekend.
The move came after four robbery attempts in the past six years, with two holdups in the last 12 months when machine-gun toting gangs robbed planes on the tarmac.
The AEA sent two letters to Belgian Transport Minister Isabelle Durant, expressing their concern over how armed robberies were able to take place on the airport tarmac in an area which is supposed to be restricted.
Authorities took action after the latest assault on a Sabena airplane in early April, when masked and armed robbers stole an undisclosed amount of valuables including money and jewelry from the parked plane.
In a similar heist last October, robbers made away with about 160 million U.S. dollars, diamonds and other goods from the cargo hold of a Lufthansa jet.
The AEA is asking for stricter controls on access and improved checks on security badges to cargo areas.
Transport officials said they were trying to do their best to protect the cargo area which receives most shipments of rough diamonds bound for Belgium's port city of Antwerp, which handles 80 percent of world trade in rough diamonds and controls 50 percent of the gem cut trade.
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