The Irish airline Ryanair intends to withdraw 5 of its 18 aircraft currently based Charleroi Airport (Hainaut) from next winter. The airline will cut a total of one million seats on flights from Charleroi and Brussels Airport at Zaventem in Flemish Brabant. Ryanair says that it has taken the decision to scale back it operation here in Belgium as a result of the Federal Government’s decision to increase air passenger tax.
Ryanair currently has 18 aircraft based at Charleroi Airport. The low-cost airline plans to withdraw five of them from next winter. The airline also intends to scrap 20 of its routes to and from Belgium from next winter. 13 of these are routes to and from Charleroi with the remaining 7 being routes to and from Brussels Airport.
The number of seats available on flights to and from Charleroi and Zaventem will be cut by a fifth. This equates to a loss of around 1 million seats on Ryanair flights to and from Belgium. This winter the low-cost airline has flights to 119 destinations from Charleroi and 11 destinations from Zaventem (Brussels Airport).
Air passenger tax
Ryanair says that the federal government's decision to increase the tax on airline tickets has been instrumental in its decision to scale back its operation here in Belgium. From 2027, a tax of 10 euros per passenger will apply to all flights that use Belgium’s airports.
In a press statement Ryanair says that decision to increase the tax that had already been increased by 150% just 5 months ago puts Belgium in an unfavourable competitive position compared with other European markets.
In addition to the Federal Government’s decission to increase air passenger tax, the city authorities in Charleroi plan to introduce a 3 euro per passenger levy on passengers that fly from the city’s airport. Ryanair has warned that there will be consequence if the city council votes in favour of what it describes as an “unwise” measure.
"In that case Ryanair would be forced to reduce the number of flights, routes and aircraft at Charleroi from April 2026 with thousands of local jobs being put under threat as a result”.
Ryanair says that it has written to the Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist), the Federal Transport Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Francophone federalist), The Walloon minister responsible for airports Cécile Neven (Francophone liberal) and the Mayor of Charleroi Thomas Dermine (Francophone socialist), asking them to reverse the planned tax increases.