Belgian Air Traffic Controllers Strike Over Digital Control Centre Plans, Halting Flights for Seven Hours

All flights to and from Belgium were suspended for seven hours starting at 2pm after air traffic controllers walked out on strike. Skeyes, Belgium's civil air navigation and traffic control authority, issued a memo to airports worldwide confirming that no flights to or from the country would be possible from 2pm onwards.

One hundred departure and arrival flights were cancelled at Brussels airport.

The airport warned passengers not to travel to the terminal and to await contact from their airline. Brussels Airlines urged customers with flights departing between 2pm and 10pm to stay away from the airport until further notice. A spokesman for the airport said: "We ask passengers who had a flight between 2pm and 9pm not to come to the airport.

They will be contacted by their airline. " Nico Cardone, spokesman for Brussels Airlines, said: "The impact will inevitably be significant. That is why we are indeed asking departing travellers not to come to the airport until further notice.

The strike was expected to last until 9pm and was likely to affect Charleroi, Liège and Ostend airports. Flights scheduled after 9pm were expected to proceed as normal. Passengers were advised to monitor their airline's communications and the airport's website for updates.

Skeyes manages all air traffic to and from Belgian airports and controls the airspace up to approximately 7,500 metres. Aircraft flying at higher altitudes over Belgium can continue their journeys as normal. Belgium serves as a major transit hub for passengers travelling between the UK and Europe.

The industrial action was triggered by a dispute over plans to introduce a new digital control centre in Namur, south of Brussels. The centre, due to be operational from next year, would take over responsibility for managing air traffic at Liège and Charleroi airports, including departing and landing flights as well as ground movements.

The existing control towers at those airports would be left vacant.

Trade unions at Skeyes had been in negotiations with management over the transition. Staff became concerned that the shift to digital control towers would reduce the number of air traffic controllers over time. A preliminary agreement was struck between the parties yesterday involving salary increases, fixed monthly pay rises and salary cap bonuses.

The proposed deal also included an extra mileage allowance for three years and two days of leave for staff who chose to relocate closer to the new Namur centre. Staff rejected the agreement, prompting spontaneous strike action beginning on Monday evening. Control tower employees at Liège and Charleroi walked out on Monday evening, followed by others across Skeyes' departments.

30am on Tuesday. 30am on Tuesday. Skeyes staff walked out again this afternoon.

Management said it wants to renegotiate the entire agreement but acknowledged that the offer was insufficient to prevent the fresh strike. Negotiations remain ongoing, with management expressing hope the action would not last the full duration.