Ryanair said on Wednesday it will remove five aircraft from its base at Charleroi and cut two million seats in Belgium from the winter 2026 season and summer 2027, citing the planned rise in the country’s air passenger tax.
The cuts will affect services at Charleroi and Brussels Airport in Zaventem. The airline said the decision was a direct response to the Federal Government’s plan to increase the departure tax on air tickets.
The Belgian government decided on Saturday to raise the airport departure tax from €5 to €7 from 1 January 2027, rather than to €10 as originally planned. Walloon authorities welcomed the lower-than-expected increase, having feared a stronger impact on Charleroi Airport.
Ryanair said the increase remains too high. In a statement, chief executive Eddie Wilson criticised what he described as a sharp rise in Belgium’s aviation tax at a time when other European countries were cutting or abolishing similar charges to support traffic, tourism and jobs.
He cited Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia and Albania as examples of countries removing aviation taxes to improve competitiveness.
Wilson said Ryanair had warned Prime Minister Bart De Wever that raising the tax would lead to lower traffic, but that the government had ignored those concerns.
As a result, he said, the airline will relocate five aircraft from Charleroi and shift two million seats from its flight schedules at Charleroi and Zaventem to what it called more competitive markets.
Charleroi is one of Ryanair’s main bases in continental Europe. Last month, the low-cost carrier warned it would scale back its Belgian operations if the federal government pressed ahead with the tax rise.
At the time, Ryanair said it could withdraw five of the 19 aircraft operating from Charleroi from the winter season and cut 20 routes, including 15 from Charleroi and five from Zaventem, equivalent to a loss of two million passengers a year.
