Several major European airports and airspace closed as all flights grounded

 Major European airports were brought to a standstill as airspace over Belgium was closed when suspicious drones were spotted nearby. All air traffic was suspended at Brussels Airport in the capital and Liège Airport in the east of the country.

A drone was spotted near Brussels Airport shortly before 7pm UK time, sparking the closure of the airport as a safety precaution. Some planes were diverted to the smaller Liège Airport, before that too was closed off due to drones being spotted there.

Flights coming in to land at both airports were diverted to Maastricht and Cologne. Officials are yet unable to confirm a link between the drone sightings in the two cities.

Kurt Verwilligen, a spokesperson for the Belgian air traffic control service, said: "When a drone is spotted, the standard procedure is to halt flights for at least 30 minutes, to allow time for necessary checks and to ensure there are no further unwanted overflights.

"That’s what happened here. For now, there is no evidence to establish a link between the findings made in Brussels and Liège."

Flight tracking data shows major disruption at Brussels airport. Two flights were due to land at 7.50pm local time, and one managed to land just in time from Tenerife. Another from Copenhagen was diverted.

Every flight due to land since then was diverted to a range of locations, including Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Maastricht Aachen Airport in the Netherlands, and Brussels South Charleroi Airport.

Other flights are showing as "scheduled" from 9.24pm. The first flight to appear with an "estimated" arrival time is the 9.50pm arrival from Faro. Both airports reopened shortly after 9pm local time (8pm UK time).

In September, Copenhagen Airport and Oslo Airport were forced to close for a brief time due to drone sightings, while drones were also seen over a Belgian military air base last weekend.

And it comes just weeks after Nato revealed it was to ramp up its air defences as rogue drones continue to menace European airports and bases.