Charleroi ATC Strike to Disrupt 832 Flights Over 24 Nights

A strike by air traffic controllers at Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) begins tonight and will run for 24 consecutive nights, with the airport’s operator estimating that roughly 832 flight movements and up to 150,000 passengers could be affected. The action, announced after the collapse of conciliation talks between unions and the air navigation service provider Skeyes, is scheduled to take place every night from 22:00 to 08:00 between 16 September and 10 October.

According to RTBF, Skeyes estimates that “around 832 movements” will be impacted — 487 morning flights and 345 night flights. The airport itself puts the human cost at “up to 150,000 passengers in total,” a little more than 5,500 people per day, its spokesperson said.

A Dispute Over Night Premiums

The conflict pits the unions representing Charleroi’s air traffic controllers against Skeyes management and centres on the granting of night-work premiums. The two sides describe the substance of the dispute in sharply different terms.

Skeyes says the unions are demanding an increase of their night premium to 160% of the current level, which it says already exceeds 1,000 euros per service and per controller. The company argues it cannot grant this because Charleroi airport is closed at night, unlike Liège Airport. “Traffic figures show that late arrivals at Charleroi mainly concern return flights of Ryanair aircraft based at Charleroi. In the vast majority of cases, the last aircraft arrives before midnight. Once this last arrival is handled, the two air traffic controllers on duty can go to sleep,” Skeyes said in its defence.

The unions reject that characterisation. As the Christian union CSC told RTBF, “contrary to what has been stated, the controllers concerned are not demanding an increase in existing premiums: they currently receive no specific indemnity for night work.” Their request, the union said, is simply “to be treated fairly” and to benefit from conditions comparable to colleagues performing similar functions — particularly those at Liège. The controllers “consider they have no other choice but to activate their strike notice — a decision taken with regret and as a last resort.”

How the Talks Collapsed

The path to the strike was long and marked by repeated deferrals. A strike notice was filed on 29 July, with action possible from 12 August. A conciliation procedure ran from the end of July into mid-September, during which collective actions were suspended. By mid-August, discussions were being described as “positive and constructive” and the strike threat had again been postponed, according to we-news. The final conciliation meeting ended in failure, triggering the current announcement.

As La Libre reported, the wider backdrop is the contested shift toward “digital towers” that will eventually guide flights over both Charleroi and Liège from a new centralised control centre in Namur.

The Deeper Driver: The Digital Tower Project

The Namur project is the structural fault line beneath the immediate pay dispute. Skeyes plans to centralise the control of Walloon airport traffic at a single digital control centre, and it has said the two airports’ traffic will be guided remotely from Namur according to its own press materials. The project raises questions about schedules, pay, job location and perceived safety — and it was the trigger for an earlier, spontaneous strike on 2 June 2026 that paralysed Belgian air traffic.

On that occasion, 140 flights to and from Brussels Airport were cancelled and 38 departures at Charleroi were affected before an agreement was reached, as VRT NWS reported. The June episode ended with a commitment to further talks on the transitional measures tied to the Namur centre, but those negotiations have now broken down.

Ryanair and the Night-Traffic Question

At the heart of the operational argument is Ryanair, the dominant carrier at Charleroi, which bases aircraft at the airport. A union representing controllers noted that despite the airport’s theoretical closure at night, traffic subsists because of an agreement between the airport and Ryanair authorising the landing of aircraft based there. In practice, those overnight return flights are what keep Charleroi’s night service alive — and what make the night-premium question more than academic.

Political Reaction and Calls for Minimum Service

The dispute has drawn in Walloon regional politics. Walloon Minister for Airports Cécile Neven (MR) said the strike “strikes directly at Charleroi airport, its partners and up to 300,000 passengers” — a figure minimised by the airport. She called on Skeyes, its staff and federal Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) “to take all necessary measures to relaunch the conciliation.” Neven also renewed her call for a minimum service, arguing that “Charleroi airport cannot continue to suffer repeated interruptions without a structural solution.”

BSCA, for its part, warned that “the first victims of these actions risk being the travellers, but also the airlines, as well as the many companies and thousands of workers who depend directly or indirectly on airport activity.”

What Travelers Should Do

Both Skeyes and the airport advise passengers to check the updated status of their flight directly with their airline before travelling. BSCA has said it “will communicate regularly on the general evolution of operations via its website and social networks,” and recommends contacting the airline in priority to verify a flight’s status and find an alternative. Travellers are also advised to check their email before heading to the airport, as airlines will inform passengers directly.

A structural caveat hangs over the figures: Skeyes has acknowledged that “at this stage it is not yet possible to fully assess the additional impact” on airlines’ rotation schedules. When aircraft cannot return to Charleroi overnight, the knock-on effects can reach the first flights they must operate from Charleroi the following morning — meaning the true disruption may exceed the headline count.

With the strike due to begin at 22:00 and Skeyes saying its management “remains open and available to social dialogue,” the coming days will test whether both sides can still find a way back to the negotiating table — or whether Charleroi is in for a month of disrupted nights.

Skeyes’ estimate of 832 affected movements was also confirmed independently by L’Avenir.