Belgian airspace closed for three hours on Sunday night
Despite reports on Sunday that air traffic controllers were suspending their action which their grievances are put to arbitration, Belgian airspace was once again closed for several hours on Sunday night. The company in charge of Belgium’s air traffic control Skeyes reports that a number of air traffic controllers had call in sick and replacements could not be found.
Consequently, Belgian air space remained close for three hours between 1:30am and 4:30am.
On Sunday it was reported that the air traffic controllers were suspending their action as their grievances about (amongst other things) staff shortages have been taken to arbitration and they wanted to give this a chance.
Air freight to and from Zaventem Airport, near Brussels and Liège Airport in Wallonia were the hardest hit by the airspace closure. The air traffic controllers’ action has been causing disruption at Belgian airports over the past few weeks.
The action only impacts those flying at less than 24,500 feet (around 8,000). Planes flying higher than that rely on air traffic controllers from Eurocontrol.
Skeyes Dominique Dehaene says that everything is now back to normal.
The dispute at Skeyes centres around pressure of work issues. Since last week Skeyes management and the unions have been involved in talks under de auspices of two arbitrators.
It is currently unclear whether there will be further action in the coming days.