Ryanair reduces Belgian flights in response to tax increase

Budget airline Ryanair is going ahead with plans to withdraw five of its 19 aircraft from Charleroi Airport and cutting two million seats from Belgian flights in response to the country’s recent increase in air fare taxes.

The budget carrier has been threatening to take action in response to the tax for several months.

This is in spite of the fact that the increase in the airport boarding tax was lowered from the initially-planned €10 to €7, compared to the current €5. The change comes into effect on 1 January 2027.

While Walloon authorities welcomed the tax reduction, fearing negative repercussions for Charleroi Airport, Ryanair still balked at the €2 increase.

“It is absurd that the federal government has decided to increase Belgium’s aviation tax from January 2027, especially when countries such as Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia and Albania are abolishing aviation taxes to boost traffic, tourism and employment,” said the budget airline’s chief executive Eddie Wilson.

“We had warned prime minister [Bart] De Wever that increasing Belgium’s aviation tax would lead to a reduction in traffic, but he did not listen,” Wilson added.

“As a result, Ryanair will now withdraw five aircraft from the Charleroi base and two million seats from flight schedules at Charleroi and Zaventem for winter 2026 and summer 2027, and relocate them to more competitive economies.”

Wallonia’s minister-president Adrien Dolimont (MR) said he had already “worked to secure a €30 million reduction for Charleroi Airport, comprising €15 million in reductions in local taxes and €15 million in reductions in federal taxes.”

“To suggest that we could go even further would be unrealistic given the overall context,” Dolimont said.

“We’re familiar with Ryanair’s communication style, which is often aggressive, and I have no intention of flinching at every one of their outbursts.

"We have done our utmost at Walloon government level, particularly thanks to excellent coordination with the federal government. Everyone needs to recognise the scale of the effort."

Dolimont sees this latest move from the budget airline as highlighting the need for Charleroi Airport to diversify its range of airlines.

The minister-president says he was “staying in contact with Charleroi Airport to analyse and monitor the situation very closely, always in the interests of Wallonia and its economic fabric”.

The trade unions point out that “Ryanair’s decision is not new and was taken several months ago”, according to Didier Lebbe, head of the transport sector at the CNE union.

“However, what’s new here is that the federal government has given in to their blackmail and reduced this new tax to €7 instead of €10 -a reduction of more than 50%,” Lebbe said.

“Ryanair is constantly playing hardball. They don’t negotiate. They’ve still managed to secure a reduction, and now they want the tax to be zero.”

Lebbe said that Ryanair’s threat to move to other countries where tax rates are more favourable to the airline is also part of their controversial approach.

“Charleroi is surrounded by a population of millions - far more than Albania, where the population stands at 2.5 million and where purchasing power is much lower,” Lebbe said.

According to the SETCa union, by deciding to revert to 14 aircraft based at Charleroi, Ryanair’s strategy is to hit the airport’s finances, particularly the revenue linked to parking fees for aircraft based there.

The announcement by Ryanair therefore raises concerns not only about the airport’s appeal, but also about direct and indirect jobs.

“When this tax was announced a few months ago, there was talk of a threat to about 100 jobs,” said Alain Goelens, deputy general secretary of the SETCa Charleroi trade union.

“Management, on the other hand, had committed to not making any redundancies. This would mainly involve the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts, and so on. But yes, undeniably, there is a risk to jobs. There are still many unknowns and only time will tell. But we cannot take this lightly.”

The withdrawal of aircraft and cutting of seats from both Charleroi and Brussels Airport will take effect from the coming winter season and during the 2027 summer season.

An estimated 20 routes are also set to be discontinued - 15 at Charleroi and five at Zaventem.