Almost 2,400 flights cancelled at Brussels Airport due to strikes in 2025
2,395 flights were cancelled at Brussels Airport this year due to strikes, show figures requested by Open VLD MP Kjell Vander Elst. According to these figures, the strikes thus affected more than 330,000 travellers.
Air traffic at Brussels Airport was severely disrupted by national trade union action seven times this year. This resulted in “a cost to the Belgian economy of around 175 million euros,” the airport reported earlier this month.
“Every day of strike action costs our economy 25 million euros. But above all, in the long term, this is simply disastrous for the reliability and perception of our airport,” stated federal MP Kjell Vander Elst in a press release.
“Anyone who messes with our airport messes with our prosperity. And while the Flemish government is putting itself 3 billion euros in debt to put a Flemish lion on the roof of the departure terminal, the federal government is doubling the flight tax. That makes no sense whatsoever.”
At the end of November, the federal government decided in its multi-year budget to further double the flight tax for flights of more than 500 km, which had already been increased in the summer, to 10 euros from 2027 onwards. Earlier this year, the Flemish government announced it is investing 2.77 billion euros in Brussels Airport Company through its investment fund PMV, giving it a 39 per cent stake and thus becoming the largest shareholder in Brussels Airport.
Illustration © BELGA PHOTO INE GILLIS
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