National strike on 13 February in Belgium: Brussels South Charleroi Airport closed

For the first time in twenty years, not one single aircraft will take off from Brussels South Charleroi Airport. Reason? A national strike will paralyse the whole country next Wednesday (13 February), and thus also the airport of Charleroi.

120 flights and 18,000 passengers are affected by the strike. Brussels South Charleroi Airport’s spokesman Vincent Grassa asks passengers to check the website of the airline on which they have booked their flights, since some airlines offer alternative travel solutions in advance.

The airport expects that roadblocks will make it impossible to come to the airport. Earlier this evening, skeyes (the Belgian air traffic control company) announced that air traffic will be limited to 50% of its capacity on Wednesday’s national strike of 13 February, hence no aircraft will depart from Charleroi Airport.

Aviation24.be contacted Ryanair, Charleroi Airport’s biggest customer, to ask which arrangements they were going to make for its passengers. The low-cost airline regrets to inform customers that it has been forced to cancel a number of flights on Wednesday 13^th February 2019.

“We have also decided to operate 12 flights to/from alternative airports surrounding Brussels and Charleroi (*). All affected customers have been contacted by email and text message and advised of their options: a full refund, rebooking on to the next available flight or transferring to an alternative flight,” the airline wrote in a statement.

(*) how exactly Ryanair didn’t mention.