Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Low-cost airline Ryanair on Wednesday announced it is mulling a cut to flights in Belgium, especially at its major European hub of Charleroi Airport, because of Belgian authorities’ “stupid” taxes. “What’s extraordinary about the stupidity of the Belgian government is that they’ve come up with this visionary idea to raise taxes on passengers, at a time when almost every other European country is abolishing travel and environmental taxes,” chief executive Michael O’Leary told reporters in Brussels.
O’Leary pointed to European countries cutting taxes to fuel growth, such as Hungary, Slovakia, and Sweden. Charleroi authorities are demanding three euros ($3.50) per passenger departing from the airport in the city. “The aircrafts can move, the jobs can move, the passengers can move, and they will move to those countries who are abolishing taxes and lowering airport fees,” O’Leary said.
The Irish no-frills airline said it would reduce its capacity at Charleroi airport by 1.1 million seats by the end of 2026. The hub serves several destinations, especially in the warmer Mediterranean region. Ryanair says it was the leading airline in the Belgian market with 11.6 million passengers travelling with the airline in 2025. The company warned this figure would fall by around 10 percent if the city of Charleroi maintains its plan to impose the tax on airports.
At the national level, the Belgian government led by Prime Minister Bart De Wever raised taxes on air transport in 2025, including on passengers departing via Brussels-Zaventem, the country’s main airport. Belgium is also engaged in a massive effort to consolidate its public finances. Contacted by AFP, the prime minister’s office did not wish to comment.
Ryanair called on De Wever in a statement “to reverse these silly tax rises, which will damage Belgium’s competitiveness, and cost Belgium millions of passengers, thousands of flights, and thousands of jobs in tourism.” The new tax will cost the airport around 16 million euros a year “without us being able to pass this (money) onto the airlines as our contracts don’t allow for it,” Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) spokeswoman Nathalie Pierard told AFP. She said the tax risked limiting the airport’s investments, especially a planned expansion from which Ryanair was set to benefit.
© 2024 AFP
