Following a three-day worker strike that resulted in the cancellation of 315 flights, Brussels Airlines has planned to cancel close to 700 flights during the course of the summer vacation. The shortage of employees will force further cancellations, according to the unions.
The heavy strain has reached a breaking point for the pilots and cabin personnel. The working conditions for Brussels Airlines employees throughout the summer are unsustainable, according to the personnel unions. For the summer months of July as well as August, the staff is that management takes specific action to reduce the stress.
The airline proposed cancelling 372 flights in July and 303 in August, or 6% of its total flights. The 148 flights that were already eliminated from the July schedule are now included in this choice.
“The financial impact of the above cancellations corresponds to €10.2 million euros in lost revenue. This amount corresponds to the first estimate of the cost of the strike of June 23, 24 and 25,” the company mentioned in the statement. “It is commercially impossible to cancel more.”
Although they express disappointment, the unions say they will evaluate the flight cancellations. Although there are currently no planned strikes, the unions feel these actions will not be sufficient.
Additionally, the permanent secretary of SETCa BBTK union, Oliver Van Camp, stated, “Deleting 700 flights out of 12,400, fine, but it depends on whether it’s flights of 1 hour, 3 hours or 6 hours. It’s not the same thing at all. Did they abolish 700 flights that suit them, or that suit the workload of the staff?”
Brussels Airlines was required to compensate the customers who were impacted by the prior strike since it was notified fewer than 14 days before it started.
The airline said that because customers were informed in a timely manner about the flights that were cancelled this summer, they are not entitled to compensation.
