Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) entered its second consecutive day of severe disruption on 22 September after a strike by air-traffic-control provider Skeyes forced the cancellation of 78 flights over Monday and Tuesday. According to an operational update posted by the airport late on 21 September, all 32 flights scheduled for Monday afternoon and evening were grounded, and a further 46 departures and arrivals for Tuesday were pulled from the boards. The industrial action is part of a wider 24-night series of stoppages announced earlier this month after negotiations over night-shift bonuses collapsed. While the strike windows officially run between 22:00 and 08:00, knock-on effects have spilled into daytime operations, prompting airlines—chiefly Ryanair, the airport’s largest carrier—to thin their schedules well beyond the strike hours. Skeyes said it has tabled a “substantial” new offer to unions, but talks are not expected to resume before mid-week. In the meantime, passengers are being urged to monitor airline notifications closely and to avoid heading to the airport until flight status is confirmed. As the disruption is caused by air-traffic-control staff and not the airlines themselves, most travellers will not qualify for EU Reg. 261 compensation. However, carriers remain obliged to provide re-routing or refunds, meals, and—where necessary—hotel accommodation. The timing is awkward for corporate travellers: Charleroi handles a growing share of Belgium’s low-cost business traffic, particularly to secondary European cities where multinationals maintain shared-service centres. Travel-managers report that same-day return trips—a common pattern for consulting and maintenance crews—have become “nearly impossible” during the strike window. Companies with operations in Wallonia are already shifting meetings online or re-routing staff via Brussels Airport (BRU) and Lille (LIL) in neighbouring France. If the action continues through the planned end-date of 10 October, CRL will have weathered almost a month of nightly shutdowns. Observers note that the dispute also places a spotlight on Belgium’s plans to introduce remote ‘digital towers’ for regional airports—technology that unions fear will hollow out local jobs and exacerbate staffing shortages. For mobile employees, the episode underscores the importance of contingency planning, multi-airport ticketing options, and real-time traveller-tracking tools.
Source: AirHelp
