BERLIN, March 24 (Reuters) - Brussels Airlines is restartingsome commercial flights from Belgium on Thursday, using theairports of Liege and Antwerp, while its main hub in the Belgiancapital remains closed following Tuesday's attacks.
Belgian police were hunting on Thursday for a "third man"filmed with two Islamic State suicide bombers at BrusselsZaventem Airport as evidence accumulated that the same jihadistnetwork was involved in the deadly Paris attacks last November.
The airport, which serves over 23 million passengers a year,remains closed until further notice, forcing airlines toscramble to reroute over the busy Easter weekend.
"There is much damage and we do not have access to thebuilding as the investigation is still under way," the airportsaid on its Twitter account on Thursday.
Brussels Airlines, 45 percent owned by Germany's Lufthansa, said it will not be able to operate a full schedule,given the smaller size of Liege and Antwerp.
The carrier will run just 15 short-haul aircraft and twolong-haul planes on Thursday, out of its fleet of 50, aspokeswoman said.
It is prioritising flights to popular holiday destinationsin Spain, France and Italy over the Easter period, she said.Brussels Airlines, which also serves many African destinations,sent five empty planes to Africa to bring back passengers and isrerouting two planes from Africa to Zurich.
Ryanair is making the most of Charleroi, around 30miles (48 km) from the Belgian capital and the site of thelow-cost Irish carrier's first base in continental Europe. It isrerouting all of its Brussels Zaventem flights through Charleroiuntil the end of Tuesday.
Smaller carriers including Vueling and Jetairfly,owned by TUI, are flying into Liege, Charleroi andOstend.
But capacity at Belgium's smaller airports is limited.
Lufthansa has cancelled all of its flights to Brussels untilTuesday and is putting passengers on buses for the 400 kilometrejourney to and from its hub in Frankfurt.
Low-cost rival easyJet is flying Brussels passengersto Lille in Northern France, while British Airways cancelled itsBrussels flights for Thursday and is reviewing the situation forFriday. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; editing by John Stonestreet)
easyJet (EZJ)