Charleroi airport was also affected on Thursday morning by Skeyes staff spontaneous strike.
Skeyes is the company in charge of air traffic control in Belgium. The Belgian airspace was closed from 9.30 am until 1 pm, European controller Eurocontrol said.
Red lights are all over the announcement boards at Brussels Airport and Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA). Brussels Airlines announced that it had to cancel 30 flights while Brussels Airport expects 56 flights to be cancelled and many delays.
At Charleroi, five flights were cancelled, BSCA website announced. A dozen were delayed, and a Tui flight was redirected through Lille.
Tui fly tour operator indicated little disturbance, apart from the one from Lille. All other Thursday morning flights took off.
The disruptions were due to information meetings organized all day today by Skeyes management who wanted to apprise staff on social agreements reached last Friday. Unions denounced that these meetings were held during the busiest hours of the work day." As a result, employees were excluded from their right to information,” ACV Secretary Kurt Callaerts said. An appeal was then launched to staff to attend massively these meetings, which disrupted the company's business.
"When management discovered that social actions affecting air traffic were taken because of these information sessions, it forced their cancellation. Any further action will be considered as a wildcat strike," management warned.
The Brussels Times
