A spontaneous strike by air traffic controller Skeyes has brought air traffic in Belgium to a standstill for hours on Tuesday, June 2. Hundreds of flights to and from Charleroi have been cancelled. The strike began in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Air traffic controllers at Liège and Charleroi airports stopped work between 02.30 and 07.00 hours. Other Skeyes departments joined in, leading to delays and cancellations at several Belgian airports in the early morning. A second, more severe action followed on Tuesday afternoon. From 14.00 hours, the Belgian airspace was once again completely shut down. Brussels Airport asked passengers with flights between 14.00 and 19.00 hours not to come to the airport. All flights from Charleroi were cancelled from 14.15 hours. It wasn't until 21.00 hours, after an agreement between Skeyes management and the unions, that air traffic was gradually resumed. The damage is significant. A total of around 140 departing and arriving flights were cancelled at Brussels Airport. At Charleroi, it was 39 flights. Air traffic was also disrupted at Liège, Antwerp and Ostend airports. Ryanair said it had to cancel 100 flights to and from Brussels Airport and Charleroi as a result of the Belgian strike. According to CEO Michael O'Leary, around 20,000 passengers were affected. Hundreds of passengers spent the night in the terminals at Brussels Airport. The social unrest at Skeyes is about the introduction of a new digital control centre in Namur. The centre will take over air traffic control at regional airports, including Liège and Charleroi. Air traffic controllers will work from Namur, but remain responsible for their own airport. The staff fears the consequences of this automation: in the long term, there will simply be fewer air traffic controllers needed. The unions and management have been negotiating additional measures for a long time, but a part of the staff found the agreed agreement insufficient - hence the spontaneous strike action. Skeyes offered its apologies to the affected passengers after the strike. The social partners will meet again to continue negotiating the dossier. Unfortunately not - not even for this strike. The actions at Skeyes are legally classified as an extraordinary circumstance under EU Regulation 261/2004. The cause of the cancellations lay outside the direct sphere of influence of the airlines themselves, so they are not required to pay the usual compensation of €250 to €600 per person. What you always have, regardless of the cause of the cancellation, is the right to reimbursement or rebooking.