Brussels Airport pleased with return to work at Aviapartner

Brussels Airport has taken note of the agreement reached between Aviapartner’s management and the company’s trade unions. The agreement has been reached after more than 6 days of strike. 960 flights handled by Aviapartner were cancelled, affecting close to 115,000 travellers. The impact of this strike on passengers was considerable, especially given the fact that this is a holiday period. Aviapartner will gradually resume activities as of this afternoon, which will allow for a return to normal operations for the flights handled by Aviapartner.

Brussels Airport is pleased that Aviapartner and the company’s trade unions were able to reach terms on an agreement, but also deplores the major impact this unannounced strike has had on passengers and airlines, particularly as it came during the autumn half-term holiday.

Since the beginning of the strike, the airport operator has stayed in touch with the trade unions and Aviapartner’s management on a regular basis to help find a compromise in order to put an end to this industrial conflict as quickly as possible.

Brussels Airport made every effort to minimise the inconvenience for passengers. Since the beginning of the strike, the airport and airlines affected have done everything in their power to assist passengers and to keep them informed of how the situation was developing day after day.

The airport is now preparing for the swift resumption of the flights handled by Aviapartner, which should be progressively restart as of this afternoon. Passengers are invited to check the latest update of their flight on the website of Brussels Airport or contact their airline, if their flight is handled by Aviapartner.

Last Sunday 28 October, the new licences for the ground handling companies at Brussels Airport came into effect for the 2018-2025 timeframe. These licences were attributed begin 2018, based on solely a set of quality parameters. Ground handling companies indeed are required to meet a list of 78 quality parameters. Thanks to these new licences, Brussels Airport now disposes of the possibility to check due compliance with these strict quality criteria in the delivery of ground-handling services, and more particularly, compliance with security procedures and aspects related to the quality of the equipment used. These checks will be implemented quickly, as required under the terms of the new licences.