24 Consecutive Night-Shifts of Air-Traffic Controller Strikes Announced at Charleroi Airport

Belgium’s second-largest airport is braced for almost a month of nightly disruption after skeyes’ air-traffic controllers confirmed a strike schedule running from Wednesday 16 September through Saturday 10 October. Between 22:00 and 08:00 each night, controllers will down tools in protest over a collapse in wage-bonus talks connected to the planned transfer of Charleroi’s tower operations to a new remote-digital centre in Namur. The dispute centres on the level of night-shift compensation. Unions argue that staff should receive the same premium (160 % of the basic rate) paid at other Belgian units where continuous operations are required. Management counters that since Charleroi closes to commercial traffic overnight, the demand is disproportionate and would add more than €1,000 per controller per shift. Relations further soured when skeyes declined union requests to postpone the move to the remote-tower concept until a staffing agreement is in place. Practically, the stoppages risk grounding late-evening inbound Ryanair rotations that routinely touch down after midnight, as well as early-morning departures positioned on-stand overnight. Airlines have begun re-routing or rescheduling flights to Brussels Airport or regional French hubs; tour operators warn that connections to North-African business centres could be hardest hit in the first week while contingency slots are negotiated. For companies moving staff or goods through Wallonia, contingency travel plans are essential. Employers should advise travellers to monitor booking portals in real time and to factor in ground-transport alternatives to Brussels Airport or Lille. Cargo firms reliant on express integrators that use Charleroi as a back-up to Liège may need to activate alternative routings. If the industrial action drags on, the political pressure on the federal transport minister to broker a compromise—as happened during the 2024 Skeyes walk-out—will intensify. Beyond the immediate flight chaos, the confrontation highlights broader labour-market tensions around Belgium’s transition to digital remote-tower technology. Similar roll-outs are planned for Liège in 2027; how this dispute is resolved will set the template for future negotiations, making the outcome highly consequential for the country’s air-navigation modernisation programme.