Belgium’s largest trade-union coalition has launched a 24-hour general strike that will completely close Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) on 12 May 2026 and cut scheduled departures at Brussels Airport (BRU) by more than 50 percent. Low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air have already cancelled all India-bound connecting flights via CRL, while Brussels Airlines is prioritising high-load long-haul routes but scrapping dozens of European feeders. Although India has no direct flights to Charleroi, the airport is a popular hub for price-sensitive passengers who combine separate tickets on Gulf and low-cost European carriers. Travel-management companies (TMCs) estimate that roughly 1,200 Indian leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives (VFR) passengers were due to transit CRL on 12 May. Airlines are obliged under EU Regulation 261/2004 to offer full refunds or rebooking on the next available service, including on competing carriers—a fact many self-booked passengers are unaware of. Mobility managers with expatriates on project assignments in Belgium and northern France should proactively shift itineraries to BRU or Amsterdam Schiphol, allowing additional ground-transfer time due to possible rail and bus disruptions linked to the strike. Indian exporters using belly-hold capacity on CRL freighter-feed services for e-commerce shipments to Europe will also be affected. Forwarders say urgent consignments may need to truck to Frankfurt-Hahn or Liège, adding 6-10 hours of transit and higher fuel surcharges. The strike underscores the importance of monitoring labour-action calendars in secondary hubs that serve self-connect traffic. Companies should remind employees to book on single-ticket itineraries where possible, so that rerouting protection applies automatically.
Source: VisaVerge
