Brussels Airport Shuts Down Due to National Strike
Travel demand has seen a huge boom this summer. After two years of Covid lockdowns and restrictions, people are traveling again in big numbers. While that’s good news for the economy and especially the travel industry, it is also creating huge problems for companies that downsized during the pandemic.
Many airlines have pilot and staffing shortages and are canceling flights. But airports are also suffering due to a shortage of employees, and especially in Europe we have seen some airports take drastic measures. The latest is Brussels Airport which shut down on Monday leaving thousands stranded.
Belgium’s largest airport was forced to cancel all departing flights after security staff and baggage handlers joined a national strike protesting increased workloads and low salaries.
Unions say 80,000 people took part in Monday’s national strike, which disrupted transport routes across the Belgian capital throughout the day. Jo Vonrutten from the FGTB union told Euronews that the staff are overworked and underpaid.
“Brussels Airport urges its passengers not to come to the airport today but to contact their airline to rebook their flight,” it said in a tweet. “Arriving passenger flights continue to operate but there are also cancellations. Please check the status of your flight on our website or via your airline.”
The airport said that issues will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, as a large number of passengers is expected following rebookings of the reservations initially planned for Monday. But it could take even longer for some passengers to finally get to their planned destinations.
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European unions never miss an opportunity to extort companies and taxpayers… especially when the weather is nice.