The entrance to Brest-Bretagne Airport, December 31, 2023 in Guipavas, in Finistère (AFP/Fred TANNEAU)
All flights are canceled at Brest airport until Tuesday noon, the control tower having been hit by lightning, the airport announced on its website.
“Brest airport was very seriously affected following the lightning strike in the control tower last night (Saturday) in particular, despite its protection. Departing and arriving flights are canceled until Tuesday noon,” according to reports. information published at the end of the day on the site.
Around fifteen flights were scheduled for Sunday, departing or arriving.
A sign indicates canceled flights at Brest-Bretagne airport, December 31, 2023 in Guipavas, in Finistère (AFP/Fred TANNEAU)
“The equipment affected by the storm is the responsibility of the Western Air Navigation Service (SNA). Our technicians therefore cannot intervene. The SNA has no technicians on duty this weekend,” laments Claude Arphexad, airport operations director, quoted by the daily Le Télégramme. “It is likely that they will only be able to intervene early, on Tuesday. The flights will therefore not be able to resume until the end of the morning,” he estimates.
The airport invites “passengers to contact their airlines to find out the status of their flights”, specifying that “all arrival and departure flight information is updated in real time” on its website: www.brest.aeroport.bzh.
In the terminal, the departure of a traveler scheduled for late Tuesday morning for Paris, before flying to Martinique, is “uncertain”. “So, we are renting a car to go to Paris tomorrow,” this trader, who did not reveal his name, explained to an AFP journalist.
“There, we can’t do anything about it, it’s lightning, it’s the storm (…) it’s not their fault, it’s the natural elements,” he adds, understanding.
The three departments of the Pointe de Bretagne -Côtes d’Armor, Finistère and Morbihan- had been placed on orange alert overnight from Saturday to Sunday by Météo France due to a strong gale from the Pointe de la Hague to the Spanish border.
These three departments are now placed on yellow alert, like part of the metropolitan territory.
According to the Finistère prefecture, “the windy passage that occurred” during the night from Saturday to Sunday “caused occasional very strong gusts of wind, up to 129 km/h on the heights of the Monts d’Arrée and up to 134 km/h on exposed capes. Lightning strikes were also recorded, causing three controlled house fires”, and therefore affecting the control tower of Brest airport.
© 2023 AFP
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