In the midst of the busy summer travel season, 96 flights to and from Charleroi were canceled this weekend due to a strike by Ryanair pilots in Belgium over working conditions.
According to the airport’s management, the strike will affect 17,000 passengers scheduled to depart or arrive in the southern city, accounting for around 28 percent of the total number of passengers expected.
Pilots claim that the low-cost Irish airline is not honoring a collective agreement that stipulates time off in exchange for salary reduction agreed to in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus outbreak, which ravaged the industry.
The pilots’ union claimed the company was breaking Belgian law and flourishing as a result of social dumping, which generates unfair competition for other airlines who follow the rules.
Ryanair has previously urged pilots to negotiate rather than strike, noting that it had negotiated agreements on working conditions with its Italian, French, and Spanish employees.
As to the firm, planes flown by non-Belgian crews carry more than half of Ryanair’s traffic at Charleroi.
During the previous strike weekend on July 15 and 16, 120 flights to and from Charleroi were canceled.
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