A total of 58 flights departing from and arriving at Charleroi airport (south) are canceled Thursday and Friday due to a strike by Ryanair pilots over their working conditions, the fourth since mid-July. AFP learned on Wednesday September 13 at the airport. The latter, one of the low-cost airline’s European hubs, published on its website the list of canceled flights and asked passengers traveling on its flights not to show up at the airport.
Ryanair pilots based in Belgium had already gone on strike on August 14 and 15 and a total of 88 flights had to be canceled. Two other strikes took place on July 15 and 16 (120 flights canceled) then the weekend of July 29 and 30 (96 flights canceled). The pilots criticize the Irish company for not wanting to respect a collective agreement providing for a certain number of days of rest in exchange for the salary cuts agreed in 2020 at the time of the Covid-19 crisis.
Pilots’ unions accuse the company of not respecting Belgian law and of prospering thanks to “social dumping” which creates unfair competition with other companies. For its part, the company claims that more than half of Ryanair traffic at Charleroi is provided by planes operated by non-Belgian personnel. “Belgian pilot unions should negotiate rather than strike,” Ryanair reacted in July, welcoming the agreements already concluded with their Italian, Spanish and French counterparts on working conditions.
