According to the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, no flights to or from Brest are possible before this Thursday, January 4, 2024. The control tower was hit by lightning on December 30 during the storm. Géraldine and since Sunday air traffic has been at a standstill.
The resumption of air traffic was announced for this Tuesday at noon, but the General Directorate of Civil Aviation announces that the runways will ultimately remain closed until Thursday January 4, 2024. “The Brest Air Navigation Service (SNA) should reopen on Thursday January 4, 2024 in the morning to be operational and ensure commercial traffic during the weekend back from school holidays”writes the DGAC in a press release.
The airport director told us this morning that “the damage is significant at the control tower. The technicians are doing their best” to allow traffic to resume quickly.
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Lightning struck the Brest airport control tower Bretagne, located in Guipavas (Finistère), on the evening of December 30, 2023. The three departments of the tip of Brittany had been placed on orange alert for the night from Saturday to Sunday by Météo-France, due to storm Géraldine, a strong gale sweeping the west of France, from the Pointe de la Hague to the Spanish border.
“Despite the protective equipment that equips the control tower and all the installations, the main antenna and all the technical systems associated with it were struck by lightning. An extremely rare fact, although not located in the same place, the secondary antenna was also struck by lightning”
Directorate General of Civil Aviation
“The exceptional impact of this lightning strike requires the replacement of numerous equipment. The intervention of a crane as well as the delivery of replacement equipment slows down the intervention of the technical teams”she added.
This Tuesday noon, the airport website indicated: “We have just learned from the control tower services that the damage is greater than expected.”
Since the incident, the majority of flights have been canceled; some, depending on the company, have been diverted to Rennes or Nantes.