Ryanair pilots' strike in Belgium cancels almost 100 flights

A strike by Ryanair pilots in Belgium in an ongoing dispute over working conditions has cancelled 96 flights to and from Charleroi this weekend, the airport said, in the midst of the busy summer travel season.

The industrial action will affect 17,000 passengers due to leave or land in the southern city, around 28 percent of the expected number of travellers, the airport's management told AFP.

Pilots say the low-cost Irish airline is failing to honour a collective convention that sets time off work in exchange for salary cuts agreed in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which decimated the industry.

The pilots' union said the company was failing to respect Belgian law and was prospering thanks to "social dumping" that creates unfair competition for other airlines that abide by the rules.

Ryanair has previously called on the pilots to negotiate rather than strike and noted it had reached deals on working conditions with its Italian, French and Spanish staff.

More than half of Ryanair's traffic at Charleroi is provided by planes operated by non-Belgian staff, according to the company.

A total of 120 flights to and from Charleroi were cancelled during the previous strike weekend on July 15 and 16.