Three ISIS attackers said by the terror group to be wearing suicide vests were seen on CCTV wheeling suitcase bombs into the busy check-in area just after 8am local time (7am GMT) after arriving in a taxi.
Two of the men, who were pictured wearing black gloves believed to contain detonators on their left hands, exploded their nail-shrouded devices in the first of twin terror attacks on the Belgian capital that left at least 34 people dead.
U.S. officials who studied the CCTV said the third bomber had already abandoned his bomb and his departure from the airport 'appeared to be planned'.
Less than 80 minutes later, a further blast on a Metro train at Maelbeek station - near to the EU Parliament building - left another 20 people dead.
It was unclear whether the missing airport suspect was responsible and Belgian police were last night 'actively searching for' Europe's most-wanted man, who had been wearing a white coat, glasses and a hat.
Other reports suggested the 'man in white' fled the airport after his devices failed to detonate. The Belgian army was said to have found and neutralised his abandoned suitcase and a suicide vest left at the scene.
Belgian police launched a major manhunt to find him as ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacres, which killed 34 in total and injured 200.
Local mayor Francis Vermeiren confirmed the ISIS suspects checked in their explosives-packed suitcases just seconds before the atrocities.
He said: 'They came in a taxi with their suitcases, their bombs were in their bags.
'They put their suitcases on trolleys, the first two bombs exploded. The third also put his on a trolley but he must have panicked, it didn't explode.'
Belgian newspaper HLN said a taxi driver told police he believes he unwittingly drove the bombers to the airport and was abruptly ordered not to touch their suitcases when he offered to help them with their luggage.
The two men whose suitcases successfully detonated – blowing themselves up in the process - were wearing gloves on their left hands, which security sources say would have hidden the triggers for their explosives.
It is a similar technique said to have been used by the jihadists who carried out the sickening Paris massacres last November.
Witnesses to the attacks on the French capital, which killed 130 people, told in the aftermath how they saw the attackers holding a detonation mechanism in their hand with a cord travelling to a suicide vest.
The third Brussels suspect fled the terminal before the carnage ensued and U.S officials believe his calm departure indicates he may have planned all along to leave before the bombs exploded.
Belgian police have issued a 'wanted' poster showing him wearing a light-coloured coat and black hat while wheeling his suitcase on a luggage trolley.
'Police are looking to identify this man. He is suspected of having committed the attack at Zaventem on Tuesday March 22,' a police spokesman said.
A string of anti-terror raids were carried out across the Belgian capital last night, with police confirming another nail bomb, an ISIS flag and several 'chemical products' were found at a house in the Schaerbeek area which was searched in connection with the terror attacks.
Police swooped on a number of suspects but the Belgian Foreign Ministry said many of those behind the chilling terror plot are 'still at large'.
It emerged as the world comes to terms with yet another deadly terror attack in Europe - just four months after 130 people were massacred in Paris.
In all too familiar scenes, terrifying photos showed bloodied victims and maimed bodies after two bombs were detonated at Brussels' main airport.
An eyewitness said the blasts were so powerful that victims were thrown in the air, leaving the floor strewn with bodies, limbs and debris. Among the 14 dead was said to be a man holding a baby.
There were reports of gunfire and shouts of God is great in Arabic. Police reportedly later found two AK-47 rifles and an unexploded suicide bomb vest.
Just 79 minutes later, commuters on their way to work lost limbs as a third bomb tore apart a train carriage on the Metro line in Maelbeek – killing 20 and injuring more than 55, including 10 critically.
Horrifying pictures, many of which resemble the heartbreaking devastation seen in the wake of the London 7/7 bombings, show innocent commuters covered in blood and sprawled out on the floor after being targeted in the attack. One survivor said it was like the 'apocalypse'.
Europe now remains on high alert amid fears of further attacks from ISIS, which has already threatened to hit the UK 'harder and more bitter'.
In a statement released following the Brussels attack, the terrorist group said on its official Telegram account: 'We promise to the states that are allied against the Islamic State that they will face dark days in return for their aggression against our state.
'And what will await you will become harder and more bitter through the grace of Allah.
'In praise of Allah who has made our blows precise and helped us succeed. we demand for him to accept our brothers among the martyrs.'
Brussels remains on lockdown today with police desperately carrying out a series of anti-terror raids in a city which has already been deemed a 'clearing house for jihadism'. More jihadis have travelled from Belgium to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq than have gone from any other European country.
In the wake of November's Paris massacres, it emerged that those behind the attacks masterminded them from Brussels leading French media to heavily criticise the Belgian authorities.
Bomber Salah Abdeslam, who was finally arrested on Friday, had links with the Brussels district of Moelenbeek - an area with a large North African population - whose mayor once described it a 'terrorists' den' because of the number of jihadists living there.
In light of the Brussels attacks yesterday, two men were arrested at gunpoint outside the city's North railway station, a mile from the Maelbeek subway.
Another man was also taken into custody by armed police at Brussels South railway station near the suburb of Schaerbeek.
German media reported that three men were arrested on suspicion of terror offences on a motorway between Munich and Salzburg.
The men were said to have been Kosovans who had travelled from Brussels, and the Office of Criminal Police of Bavaria said inquiries were ongoing.
Another person was also arrested on a train near Amsterdam, while hours later shots were fired at the Dutch capital's main train station during an arrest attempt.
Police later confirmed the arrests in Amsterdam were not related to Brussels and the suspects were detained on suspected drug offences.
A suspect package found at Gard du Nord in Paris also delayed Eurostar services yesterday afternoon.
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