Belgium’s second-busiest airport is starting the working week under severe operational stress. In a statement on Sunday evening, Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) confirmed that **34 commercial flights scheduled for Monday, 21 September 2026 have been cancelled and a further 21 have been moved to daytime slots** as a result of an ongoing air-traffic-controller strike at the state-owned navigation service Skeyes. The social action began on 16 September after negotiations over a €10,000 annual night-shift bonus broke down. Controllers are walking out every night between 22:00 and 08:00, a timetable that disproportionately affects the low-cost carriers – notably Ryanair, Wizz Air and TUIfly – that rely on late-evening and early-morning rotations to keep aircraft utilisation high. Since the first walk-outs, BSCA estimates **around 160 flights – roughly 11 % of its September schedule – have already been lost**, along with an estimated 27,000 passenger journeys. Airlines have responded in different ways. Ryanair has proactively re-routed some services to Brussels Airport (BRU) and Eindhoven (EIN) while offering fee-free rebooking or refunds. Wizz Air has opted to consolidate operations at Charleroi during daylight hours, adding capacity where possible. Corporate travel managers report knock-on effects for itineraries that rely on early meetings elsewhere in Europe, as well as missed onward long-haul connections from larger hubs. On Sunday the Skeyes management tabled a revised offer that would add a **€10,000 structural supplement per controller, plus incremental bonuses** until Charleroi’s digital remote tower is fully certified in 2028. Union representatives said they would consult members but warned that the staggered night-strikes could continue until 10 October if a ballot rejects the deal. For multinationals that use Charleroi as a cost-efficient gateway for visiting engineers and project teams, contingency planning is now essential. Travel buyers are advised to avoid scheduling flights that depart or arrive between 21:00 and 09:30, build in extra ground-transport buffers, and monitor airline alerts closely. If the dispute drags on, there is a tangible risk that carriers will temporarily re-deploy aircraft to more stable bases, reducing capacity for the winter timetable.
Source: The Brussels Times
