A EUROPEAN city has been forced to cancel all flights at short notice – affecting thousands of passengers.
Air traffic in Belgium will be halted from 12pm to 7pm today due to an unexpected air traffic controller strike.
At Brussels Airport, passengers are being told not to travel to the airport.
In a statement, they said: “All flights to and from Brussels Airport between 2pm and 9pm will unfortunately have to be cancelled by the airlines.
“Please do not come to the airport if you are flying between 2pm and 9pm.”
This has already included some British Airways flights from London Heathrow.
According to local media, this has also affected Brussels Charleroi Airport, with 30 flights cancelled so far.
This mainly means Ryanair passengers, who are the primary carrier at Belgium‘s second biggest airport.
Ryanair slammed the strike, which has affected 20,000 passengers.
The airline’s boss Michael O’Leary said: “While we respect the right to strike, it is unacceptable that airlines were given zero notice of today’s Belgian ATC strike.
“As a result, airlines were forced to cancel flights at short notice, unfairly impacting thousands of passengers travelling to/from Belgium – many of whom are now stranded at Charleroi and Zaventem Airports.”
But Wizz Air passengers are also being hit, with flights being forced to divert and land at other airports.
Brussels Charleroi said in a statement: ” A new work stoppage will bring operations to a standstill starting at 2:15pm at Charleroi Airport.
“As a result, all flights scheduled to depart or arrive from 2:15 p.m. onward are canceled.
“Passengers with a flight scheduled after 2:15pm departing from or arriving at Charleroi Airport are advised to contact their airline for refunds or rebooking.
“Passengers with flights scheduled after 9:00pm are advised to check their flight status on their airline’s website.”
Similar restrictions are affecting other airports in Belgium too, including Antwerp, Liege, Ostend-Bruges.
The strikes are due to a disagreement over a new digital control tower being introduced.