Belgium’s two busiest passenger gateways – Brussels Airport (BRU) and Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) – fell silent on Monday, 19 October 2026, after security-screening agents, ramp handlers and refuelling crews launched a co-ordinated 24-hour strike backed by the country’s three main union federations (ACV/CSC, ABVV/FGTB and ACLVB/CGSLB). With checkpoints unstaffed, federal police ordered the immediate cancellation of every departing commercial passenger flight. More than 240 departures at Zaventem and the entire low-cost schedule at Charleroi were scrubbed, stranding an estimated 45,000 travellers. Inbound services were allowed to land on a case-by-case basis but many were diverted to Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Paris, while those that did touch down often off-loaded passengers without hold luggage because striking ramp staff refused to unload bags. The walk-out is the latest flash-point in a long-running dispute over staffing levels and purchasing power in Belgium’s outsourced aviation-services sector. Private contractors G4S, Securitas, Aviapartner and Swissport have faced acute labour shortages since traffic rebounded post-pandemic, yet unions say wages have failed to keep pace with inflation. Negotiations on a new national collective labour agreement collapsed last week after employers offered an average 2 % pay rise – well below the unions’ 7 % demand – prompting Monday’s industrial action. For multinational employers, the timing could not be worse. The strike coincides with the restart of the EU’s winter business-travel season and has forced companies to re-route staff through nearby German, Dutch and French hubs, adding cost and complexity to assignments. Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers are entitled to full refunds or free re-routing, so corporates should remind travelling employees to preserve receipts and file compensation claims. HR mobility teams are also advising travellers to switch to rail for intra-European trips; Eurostar and Thalys added extra carriages on the Brussels–Paris-London-Amsterdam corridor within hours of the shutdown. Belgian airport management warns that further rolling stoppages cannot be ruled out. Unless a wage accord is reached, unions have threatened to stage additional 24-hour strikes during the busy All Saints holiday period in early November. Global mobility managers with talent based in – or transiting through – Belgium should therefore build contingency routings and reconsider the reliance on same-day air travel for critical assignments until labour peace is restored. Travellers with essential trips on 19 October have been told emphatically not to go to the airport; police have sealed the departure halls and only staff with airport ID badges are allowed through the perimeter. Airlines are waiving change fees for affected itineraries and encouraging passengers to travel with cabin baggage only, as checked-bag delivery on inbound flights cannot be guaranteed until Tuesday.
Source: Passage Wire
