All commercial flights from Belgium's two main airports will be cancelled on 1 October due to a strike by security staff, airport operators have announced.
The strike, affecting Brussels-Zaventem and Charleroi airports, was called by a confederation of trade unions to sound the alarm over working conditions in the cleaning, security and catering sectors, AFP reported.
A protest is also planned for noon in Brussels' European Quarter to draw the EU's attention to the issue.
At Belgium's largest airport, Brussels-Zaventem, all 249 flights scheduled for take-off have been cancelled, and only 98 of 243 flights scheduled to land will be able to take place, a spokeswoman for the airport operator said.
At Charleroi airport, about 100 departing flights have also been cancelled, but arriving planes are unaffected, a spokesman for the airport operator said.
The departure of planes has been hampered by the absence of baggage inspectors, whose checks at both airports are carried out by British multinational G4S.
The thousands of passengers affected by the cancelled flights will be notified by their airlines. | BGNES
