Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair delivered a stark warning to the Belgian travel market on 11 December 2025, confirming that it will remove one million seats—roughly 22 percent of its current capacity—from Brussels Airport (BRU) and Brussels South Charleroi (CRL) for the 2026-27 winter season. Twenty routes will disappear entirely, according to the airline’s statement. The decision is a direct response to successive increases in Belgium’s federal aviation tax, which will double to €10 per departing passenger in 2027, and to Charleroi’s plan to levy an additional €3 local charge.
Ryanair’s chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness described the policy as “making Belgium completely uncompetitive,” noting that neighbouring EU states have begun scaling taxes back to stimulate post-pandemic tourism. By contrast, Belgium’s cumulative surcharges could add more than €40 to the cost of a family’s round-trip, eroding the ultra-low-cost model that has fuelled Ryanair’s growth. The carrier currently flies to more than 80 destinations from the two Belgian airports, linking Brussels to major business hubs such as Dublin, Rome, Barcelona, and Marrakesh.
Businesses and individual travellers adjusting their itineraries in light of these route cuts can streamline the paperwork side of the journey with VisaHQ. Through its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/), VisaHQ provides online visa checks, document-preparation tools and courier options for Schengen and worldwide destinations, helping corporate mobility managers and tourists alike keep trips on track even as flight options shrink.
![Belgian Aviation Tax Spurs Ryanair to Slash One Million Seats and 20 Routes From Brussels in 2026]()
For corporate mobility managers the announcement is an operational headache. Ryanair’s intra-European network serves as a low-fare bridge for Belgian assignees, commuters and short-term project teams, particularly in the tech and life-sciences corridors around Dublin and Barcelona. Travel-management companies estimate that 18 percent of Belgian SME travel passes through Ryanair’s Brussels bases; replacing those seats with legacy-carrier options could inflate budgets by 30-40 percent and lengthen journey times if connections via Paris or Amsterdam are required.
Airport authorities are also bracing for revenue loss. Brussels South Charleroi—where Ryanair accounts for around 70 percent of traffic—relies heavily on passenger-related charges and concession sales. Analysts at HSBC project that a one-million-seat exodus could shave €25-30 million from CRL’s 2026 turnover and threaten seasonal jobs. Brussels Airport (BRU) is less exposed but still faces a hit to its growing transfer-passenger strategy, as Ryanair helped drive a 3.5 percent year-on-year passenger increase through October 2025.
In the short term, travellers will not feel the impact during the busy 2025 holiday season; cuts begin only with the winter 2026 timetable. Nevertheless, mobility professionals are advising firms to audit their route dependencies now. Alternative capacity from easyJet, Wizz Air or legacy carriers remains scarce in the current slot-constrained EU environment, and Belgium’s tax stance shows no signs of softening. Unless the federal government reconsiders, Belgium risks ceding both leisure and high-yield corporate traffic to airports across the Dutch and German borders.
Ryanair’s chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness described the policy as “making Belgium completely uncompetitive,” noting that neighbouring EU states have begun scaling taxes back to stimulate post-pandemic tourism. By contrast, Belgium’s cumulative surcharges could add more than €40 to the cost of a family’s round-trip, eroding the ultra-low-cost model that has fuelled Ryanair’s growth. The carrier currently flies to more than 80 destinations from the two Belgian airports, linking Brussels to major business hubs such as Dublin, Rome, Barcelona, and Marrakesh.
Businesses and individual travellers adjusting their itineraries in light of these route cuts can streamline the paperwork side of the journey with VisaHQ. Through its Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/), VisaHQ provides online visa checks, document-preparation tools and courier options for Schengen and worldwide destinations, helping corporate mobility managers and tourists alike keep trips on track even as flight options shrink.
For corporate mobility managers the announcement is an operational headache. Ryanair’s intra-European network serves as a low-fare bridge for Belgian assignees, commuters and short-term project teams, particularly in the tech and life-sciences corridors around Dublin and Barcelona. Travel-management companies estimate that 18 percent of Belgian SME travel passes through Ryanair’s Brussels bases; replacing those seats with legacy-carrier options could inflate budgets by 30-40 percent and lengthen journey times if connections via Paris or Amsterdam are required.
Airport authorities are also bracing for revenue loss. Brussels South Charleroi—where Ryanair accounts for around 70 percent of traffic—relies heavily on passenger-related charges and concession sales. Analysts at HSBC project that a one-million-seat exodus could shave €25-30 million from CRL’s 2026 turnover and threaten seasonal jobs. Brussels Airport (BRU) is less exposed but still faces a hit to its growing transfer-passenger strategy, as Ryanair helped drive a 3.5 percent year-on-year passenger increase through October 2025.
In the short term, travellers will not feel the impact during the busy 2025 holiday season; cuts begin only with the winter 2026 timetable. Nevertheless, mobility professionals are advising firms to audit their route dependencies now. Alternative capacity from easyJet, Wizz Air or legacy carriers remains scarce in the current slot-constrained EU environment, and Belgium’s tax stance shows no signs of softening. Unless the federal government reconsiders, Belgium risks ceding both leisure and high-yield corporate traffic to airports across the Dutch and German borders.
