Belgian General Strike Paralyses Air Traffic Operations, Many Flights Cancelled

Belgian public-sector workers have launched a general strike over payment disputes, which have grounded all incoming and outgoing flights for 24 hours. 200 flights have been cancelled by Brussels Airlines, which will operate 11 services on Wednesday, including four across Africa.

But skeyes, Belgium's air traffic control organisation, has voiced concerns about the disruptions and ordered flights to be grounded on late Tuesday evening.

"Despite all the efforts made by the Skeyes management, six hours before the start of the national strike, the company does not have sufficient insight into the staffing levels during the industrial action that will start tonight," a Tuesday press release said. "skeyes' employees do not have to declare their intentions to work or not during trade union actions in advance."

"Therefore, skeyes is forced not to allow air traffic between Tuesday 12 February 10 PM [CET] and Wednesday 13 February 10 PM."

Brussels Airlines added that it had cancelled 28 out of 222 flights scheduled for 13 February and diverted passengers to other flights, but due to updated information on the strike, the airline decided to cut 122 additional flights.

"In total, the airline cancels 68% of its flights originally planned that day, unfortunately impacting 11.288 passengers," a press release said. "This will allow its guests to adapt their travel plans well in advance and hence minimize the level of disruption and discomfort generated by the national strike for them as much as possible."

Similar industrial actions have taken place after Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, saw pilots go on strike in the summer of 2018, leading to over 250 cancellations across Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and others, according to RTE. Ryanair staff, including pilots and flight attendants, sought pay rises and violations of labour laws where employees were hired as independent contractors instead of full-time employees, using Irish law instead.