Belgian airports cancel flights on Tuesday as strike looms

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Brussels Airport, Belgium’s main international flight hub, will cancel several flights on Tuesday, while Charleroi Airport plans to suspend all departures the same day due to a nationwide strike over the new government’s austerity policies.

Brussels Airport said in a statement that some of its baggage and security service providers were due to participate in the industrial action.

While it did not specify how many flights would be cancelled, Belga news agency reported that at least 30% of departures were to be axed and that disruption to incoming flights was also possible.

Charleroi Airport said in a statement that a staff shortage expected on Tuesday would make it impossible to ensure safe operations for departing flights. It added that incoming flights would continue as scheduled.

Belgian unions are organising another nationwide strike against the new government’s policies including pension reforms.

The planned pension reform rewards those who work past retirement age with 35 years of service, while early retirees without 35 years of work behind them face a penalty. The new system would be less favourable for lower-income earners compared with the previous one, which provided a lump sum based on career length.

Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever’s government was sworn in on February 3 after eight months of negotiations that resulted in a five-party coalition including conservatives, centrists, and socialists.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Hugh Lawson)