Belgian airports to cancel flights on Wednesday due to national strike

By Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium's largest airport will cancel close to half of its flights on Wednesday while no flight will depart Ryanair's hub in Charleroi as trade unions protest against diminishing purchasing power.

Brussels Zaventem airport, which saw around 2 million travellers in September, said it expected "serious service disruptions" due to the strike and that a large number of flights were cancelled or rescheduled to avoid long waiting times and delays.

South of Brussels, Belgium's second airport Charleroi has cancelled all of its flights, it said on its website.

Local transport networks nationwide will bring public travel to a near-halt on Wednesday as Belgian workers march in Brussels demanding to improve wages and working conditions.

Annual inflation in Belgium hit 12.27% in October 2022, its highest since June 1975, as food and energy costs soared.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss; Editing by Bernadette Baum)