Relieving the work pressure during summer 2022

"We regret that the conciliation meeting with the social partners on Tuesday, June 7 did not result in an agreement.
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​We are entering a busy summer, a summer that is crucial for our industry. The ramping up of the flight schedule after two unusually quiet years to a full summer schedule comes with a huge workload for all of our staff and across the industry. Our staff has expressed concern that the workload is too high under these exceptional circumstances. We have listened to them and taken action to ease the workload. We are amongst others cancelling 148 flights, for which there are sufficient alternatives available to passengers, as we want to meet the staff's demand for a reduction in the workload.
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​We have had a very successful recruitment campaign in recent months to enable our growth this summer. In particular, 225 additional cabin crew members have been hired, many of whom have experience at Brussels Airlines. The airport staff and the maintenance department have also recruited extra staff members. No flights were cancelled due to staff shortages. The proposed flight schedule was fully in line with the workforce and within the agreements of the current CLA.
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​The cancellation of 148 flights will have an impact on less than 1% of the passengers, who will be contacted by the airline on Thursday, June 9, via e-mail and text message and will immediately receive the details of their new flight. If the customer is not satisfied with the proposed alternative, we will look at other solutions together. Finally, if no solution is found, the passenger can always request a refund.
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​We hope that the discussions with the social partners can still be continued in order to find effective solutions for the coming summer. A strike at the beginning of the summer would come at the worst possible time for our passengers, for all our colleagues and for our company which is still trying to climb out of the red every day."
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​- Maaike Andries, Spokesperson for Brussels Airlines