Due to industrial action, the Belgian airspace was closed (or so our national broadcast reported) for a couple of hours yesterday 25th June, and more such interruptions are possible over the next few days.
There were a good deal of passenger flights cancelled, but I am not sure about the effects on G/A. Neither could I find any relative NOTAM, which I find a bit disturbing.
I normally fly to Frankfurt, Germany (not myself, but with an Airline) most weeks, but I havent this week, and I considered the effect of the French ATC strike. I though, well it doesnt matter because the route AFAIK routes through Belgian airspace, so it’s interesting they are now striking. Glad I stayed in England then :-)
The NOTAM gets published at least 3h before the start of the industrial action. Since negotiations are ongoing, there are no further actions planned. This can change very quickly though.
People flying to/from an uncontrolled airport in the Brussels FIR can do so during the actions. Flying VFR in uncontrolled airspace is also no problem.
IFR flights during industrial action only possible above FL245
In the event of ATC industrial action, it generally means:
+ VFR flights may find it difficult to transit airspace
+ IFR flights may be subject to restrictive slots, long delays en-route, or required re-routing
+ Inbound and outbound flights at airports with ATC may be delayed
+ Where the ATC function ceases to exist the airport may revert to uncontrolled (Class G)
+ Negligible impact to flights in uncontrolled airspace
See the current network situation map:
https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/spec/index.html
I can’t complain about the service received from belgian ATC on the 24. in the evening and the 25. in the morning (IFR).
FWIW I flew through Belgian airspace to Germany yesterday with no problem at all.
Strange as it may sound, as a Belgian pilot I have little experience with them. Why? Because, as a microlight pilot, I can not come in controlled airspace anyway. So that I only get to talk to Brussels Info, which is a bit of a lottery: always very nice and able people, but some have been overwhelmed by the volume of traffic on sunny weekends.
But their good reputation on various forums is universal. Which makes it only more sorry to talk about the current unrest: I’ve always known Belgocontrol staff to be well aware of their degree of responsability and about the public service character of their job – they’ve always been very reluctant to actually strike. This time, the unions seem to have got the better of them, over a matter not directly related to aviation.
The unions and the controllers have never been more on the same side than now. Their demands are legitimate. You cannot start to imagine the legal consequences of the last “pension reform”. If you haven’t got the required number of employed years, you’ll finish the last year, maybe two years on social welfare ’till you reach legal pension age. Guess what happens to the calculation of your pension wage ?
Conflict ended through negotiations, no further action expected.
