AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS INFLICT MORE PAIN ON ZAVENTEM AS STRIKE CLOSES AIRPORT
(Posted 13th April 2016)
Clearly not satisfied with the damage done to their main airport by terrorists and the impact this had on the reputation of Belgium as a leading European tourism destinations and Brussels as an aviation hub, have air traffic controllers yesterday staged a wild cat strike, which brought operations at Zaventem to a near halt.
The unauthorized strike was reportedly a reaction to Belgocontrols’ plans to revise the organizations’s pension scheme and was met with comments of pure outrage and disgust from affected airlines, airport personnel, public officials and the Belgian public at large.
Readers may recall the monumental struggle by workers at Zaventem and airline staff, in particular of home carrier Brussels Airlines to return the airport to operational status and not one of them had a shred of sympathy or understanding for the strike which prompted another shutdown just over a week since reopening.
Brussels Airlines in fact bore the brunt of the action as the Belgian national carrier is the largest user of Zaventem. It is understood that inbound flights, caught unaware, had to be diverted to other airports while outbound flights failed to take off.
Incensed sources who provided regular information from Brussels during the shutdown after the terrorist bombings, on condition of strict anonymity, equated the ringleaders of the strike to having the mentality of psycho terrorists themselves now, called them unpatriotic and a disgrace for every victim of the terror strikes at the airport and the Metro in Brussels.
No doubt have the participants in the strike lost any moral high ground they might have ever had and public opinion in Belgium, including news updates, left no doubt in which part of hell those responsible should rot.
Both Brussels Airport and Brussels Airlines again took to the social media to update passengers on the situation, when a two hour period between 17.45hrs and 19.45hrs suddenly opened up for departing and arriving flights. Passengers using Brussels are, like during the closure, advised to follow announcements on Twitter via @BrusselsAirport and @FlyingBrussels or seek direct flight updates from their respective other airlines.
