“Stupid government”: Ryanair announces reducing its presence in Belgium after “insane taxes”

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary takes on Belgium. The low-cost airline announced on Wednesday that it was considering reducing its capacity in the “Flat Country” from the end of the year. The busy hub of Charleroi will be particularly impacted.

“Insane tax increases”, “stupid government”: Michael O’Leary attacked the Belgian authorities with his usual offensive and provocative tone, during a press conference in Brussels. “What is extraordinary about the stupidity of the Belgian government is that it had this visionary idea of ​​increasing taxes on passengers, at a time when almost all other European countries are removing their environmental and travel taxes,” said the Irish CEO. In his sights is a federal tax raised to 10 euros on each plane departure from Belgian soil.

“Our planes can move, jobs can move, and they will move to these countries which eliminate these taxes and lower airport taxes,” he added, citing in particular the examples of Hungary, Sweden and Slovakia.

One million seats removed in Charleroi

Concretely, the low-cost airline plans to reduce its offer in Charleroi by around one million seats from the 2026 winter season, next fall, and potentially by another million the following year, if the federal government and the city of Charleroi do not waive their taxes.

Charleroi, Belgium’s second airport behind Brussels-Zaventem, is a major Ryanair platform on the European continent, serving a large number of destinations in the Mediterranean basin. The airport said it feared the loss of a thousand direct and indirect jobs. The low-cost airline could withdraw a quarter of its twenty aircraft based at this airport or in any case “reduce the frequency” of certain services, according to Michael O’Leary.

In order to encourage alternative options to air transport, the government led by Bart De Wever decided last year on a tax of 10 euros per ticket for departure from Belgium. From 2027 this tax will apply to all flights, not just those with a distance of less than 500 km as is already the case.

This amounts to “multiplying Belgium’s “passenger” tax by five in two years,” criticized the CEO of Ryanair, calling on Bart De Wever to reverse this decision. Asked by AFP, the Prime Minister’s office did not wish to react.

A tax other municipal tax

Ryanair, which presents itself as the leading airline on the Belgian market with 11.6 million people transported in 2025, is also targeting a municipal tax for the city of Charleroi, which must still be validated by the regional executive of Wallonia (south).

This involves demanding payment of 3 euros per passenger departing from this platform from the operating company, Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA), a “crazy idea” according to the boss of Ryanair.

This new tax would cost the airport around 16 million euros per year, “without being able to pass this on to the airlines, our contracts with them do not provide for this”, specified a spokesperson for BSCA, Nathalie Pierard.

She stressed that this new financial burden risked limiting the airport’s investments, in particular an extension project from which Ryanair, the main company in Charleroi, was supposed to benefit.