A spokesperson for the Scottish agency confirmed: “As soon as news of the events in Brussels was publicised, a Barrhead Travel team member ran a report from home to identify how many passengers were in Brussels at the time of the incident, as well as how many were due to travel to Brussels.
 
“We can confirm that a party of 21 of people from Ireland were on route to Brussels Airport this morning to travel home from an educational trip.

“At 8.30am, Barrhead Travel quickly made contact with the educational board that organised the trip and established that the group were safe. The group were escorted by security as they disembarked the train at the airport and did not reach the airport terminal. We can confirm that none of the group were injured, however they are understandably shaken.”

Barrhead subsequently rearranged flights and by 9am said it had booked flights enabling the party to return home on an Aer Lingus flight from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Dublin International Airport on Tuesday evening.

It also had to arrange a private-hire vehicle from Amsterdam to travel to Brussels to collect the group and transport them to Schiphol airport, due to a “lockdown on all public transportation in Brussels”.

A member of the Barrhead Travel team has now flown out from Glasgow to meet the group at Schiphol Airport to escort them off the coach and through check in.

The agency said it was now offering alternatives for customers that had been due to travel to Brussels.