Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Brussels’ Zaventem and Charleroi airports as protesters took to the streets for the fifth general strike of the year to oppose the federal government’s proposed cuts and reforms to pensions.
Transport services were severely disrupted in Belgium as general strikes took place nationwide over the proposed federal reforms and cuts to pensions.
Departure flights in Brussels Airport, also known as Zaventem, were cancelled as security and airport personnel participated in the strikes. The country’s main airport only received 103 incoming flights. 261 flights were originally set to land at the airport.
Further south of the city, Charleroi, a major European hub for low costairlines like Ryanair, preventively cancelled all its flights on Wednesday, citing a lack of staff. All flights were grounded for the day.
“Passengers scheduled to fly via Charleroi on 25 June will be contacted by their airline for a rebooking or refund. We regret the impact of this national strike on our passengers' travel plans and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” said Charleroi Airport in a statement on their website.
The coming days are expected to be extremely busy in Brussels’ two airports as airlines scrambled to rebook passengers affected by the strikes on the next flights. Zaventem airport expects to process around 90,000 passengers per day for the coming few days.
