National strike set for 1 October, Brussels Airlines cancels most flights

A national strike scheduled for 1 October is likely to have a “major impact” at Brussels Airport, and Brussels Airlines is already cancelling flights in anticipation of the disruption.

The planned union action intends to draw attention to poor working conditions in the security, cleaning and catering sectors, and unions warn that disruptions are also possible at Charleroi and Liège airports.

“Due to the national demonstration on Tuesday 1 October and the announced strike of a large number of employees of the external security service provider, Brussels Airport expects a major impact on airport operations on that day,” airport management said.

“In order to avoid long waiting times at security control, airlines have decided, in consultation with Brussels Airport, to cancel or change a large number of flights departing on 1 October.”

Brussels Airlines will already “cancel most of its flights”, according to the company, and will offer affected passengers an alternative and “do all it can to get passengers to their destinations as soon as possible”.

That could be a day earlier or later, or in the case of transfer passengers, with a transfer in another hub of Lufthansa Group, the German airline group to which Brussels Airlines belongs.

Affected travellers will be presented with an alternative via e-mail. To ensure they get the email, those affected are advised to check their contact details via the website under "my booking".

Help is also available via the chat assistant on the website or via the travel agent.

Additional colleagues have been drummed up for customer service, but longer waiting times can nevertheless not be ruled out.

Cargo flights via Brussels Airport are not expected to be affected.