Loss of up to 13 million Eur in case Brussels Airport forced to close due to strike on February 13th

If Brussels Airport is forced to close Wednesday during the national strike called by the unions, the economic damage to the airport “could reach 10 to 13 million euros,” said Sunday the president of the airport, Marc Descheemaecker (self-declared N-VA), on the VRT program, “De Zevende Dag”.

In anticipation of the strike, the airline company Brussels Airlines has already announced the cancellation of all its flights on Wednesday, while the operator TUI will divert their flights to other airports. The eventual closure of Brussels Airport will depend on the monitoring of the action taken or not by Skeyes’ air traffic controllers (formerly Belgocontrol).

According to the unions, the strike should be general and also concern the baggage handlers. If the airport has to keep its doors closed, the consequences will be enormous, warns its president Marc Descheemaecker. “Brussels Airport represents the second most important economic engine,” he said. “With the complete closure of the airport, we can talk about economic damage that I estimate at between 10 and 13 million euros.”