Brussels Airport has warned airlines and passengers that only about 50 % of scheduled departures will be able to operate on Tuesday 12 May, when Belgium’s three main trade-union confederations stage a nationwide demonstration in Brussels. In a statement issued on 28 April, the airport operator said it has already asked carriers to pre-emptively reduce their passenger flight programme to guarantee security and keep queues at security and border-control points within manageable limits. The walk-out is not directed at the airport itself but it will hit critical functions—security screening, check-in and ramp handling—because many of the affected staff are unionised employees of third-party service providers. Arriving flights should see only limited disruption, but the operator cautions that last-minute gate changes and baggage delays are possible. Freight operations are expected to run close to normal, although dedicated cargo handlers have been told to draw up contingency plans. Since the start of 2025, Brussels Airport has already suffered eight days of major disruption linked to broader social-action movements in Belgium. Each event forces carriers to re-route aircraft or cancel services, inflating costs for airlines and causing headaches for corporate travel managers who rely on the hub for pan-European connections. The airport handled 1.77 million passengers in March, suggesting that a single day of partial shutdown could inconvenience more than 60 000 travellers. Business-travel programmes should begin scenario-planning now. Travellers with essential meetings on 12 May are advised to move flights to the preceding Monday or use rail connections into Brussels-Midi. Companies should also monitor any knock-on effects on 13 May, when aircraft and crews will be returning to normal rotation. Travel-risk teams are reminded to update Traveller Tracking tools so that duty-of-care alerts can be pushed automatically if the unions expand the action beyond 12 May.
Source: The Brussels Times
