Ryanair threatens major cuts in Belgium over increased taxes on airline tickets
Ryanair has once again escalated its dispute with the Belgian authorities over the increase in the tax on boarding passengers onto aircraft, announcing that it will significantly reduce its offering in Belgium in the 2026/2027 winter flight schedule if the federal government does not abandon the rise in the levy. According to the announcement by the Irish low-cost carrier, the planned cut includes around one million fewer seats, the cancellation of 20 routes and the withdrawal of five aircraft from the Brussels South Charleroi Airport base, which is the company’s most important Belgian stronghold. Ryanair claims that the decision would mean a reduction of its Belgian offering by around 22 percent and the loss of an investment that the company estimates at 500 million US dollars. According to reports by Belga News Agency and data cited by the company itself, of the 20 announced cancelled routes, 13 would relate to Charleroi and seven to Brussels Airport in Zaventem. The company claims that the tax increase will directly increase travel costs, reduce the competitiveness of Belgian airports and encourage the redirection of aircraft to countries with lower costs.
The dispute does not concern just one business move by Ryanair, but a broader Belgian debate about how to tax air traffic at a time of pressure on public finances, climate obligations and competition among European airports. The Belgian federal government sees the tax increase as part of a broader budgetary and tax package, while airlines warn that the cost will ultimately be passed on to passengers. According to an overview of the program law published by KPMG, the Belgian parliament approved a package of tax measures on May 29, 2026, and the law was published in the Belgian official gazette on June 1, 2026. The package provides that, from January 1, 2027, the aircraft boarding tax will be standardized at 10 euros, with additional increases for shorter flights in 2028 and 2029. This gave Ryanair’s pressure on the government a new dimension: the company is now reacting not only to an announcement, but to a measure that has entered the legislative framework, although the political debate about its possible revision has not yet been completely closed.
What is changing in Belgium’s boarding tax
Belgium introduced a tax on boarding passengers onto aircraft in 2022, and the amount has since changed according to flight distance. According to information from the Belgian tax administration SPF Finances, from July 29, 2025, for flights longer than 500 kilometres, the previous amounts of two and four euros were replaced by a single amount of five euros per passenger, while the amount of 10 euros remained for flights up to 500 kilometres. The new program law provides for the next step: from January 1, 2027, the tax for passengers on flights longer than 500 kilometres will rise from five to 10 euros. For shorter flights, which are already at the level of 10 euros, an increase to 10.50 euros from January 1, 2028, and to 11 euros from January 1, 2029, is planned, according to explanations by tax experts and available parliamentary documents.
For passengers, such a levy is most often not seen as a separate political measure, but as part of the total ticket price. Airlines emphasize that the tax is formally paid by carriers or operators through the reporting and collection system, but in practice they can incorporate it into the price paid by the passenger. According to The Brussels Times, Brussels Airlines had already previously stated that it could not cover the additional tax from its own resources and would have to pass it on to passengers. Airlines for Europe, an organization that brings together major European carriers, also criticized the Belgian increase, claiming that such measures affect families, business travellers and economic activity. On the other hand, supporters of taxing air traffic in Belgium and other European countries often link such fees to fiscal needs and environmental policy, especially in the case of short flights for which rail alternatives exist.
It is important to distinguish the federal tax from the earlier disputed local measure in Charleroi. At the end of 2025, the City of Charleroi planned to introduce an additional municipal levy of three euros per passenger departing from Brussels South Charleroi Airport, and according to Belga News Agency, the expected annual revenue was around 15 million euros. On February 5, 2026, the Walloon government refused to approve that local measure, stating that it could threaten the financial sustainability of the airport and the wider economic interests of the region. According to Télésambre, the City of Charleroi decided in March not to file an appeal, so that municipal tax does not apply in 2026. But the abolition of the local levy did not resolve the central dispute, because the federal boarding tax remains the key point of conflict between Ryanair, the airport and the federal government.
Ryanair claims that the Belgian market has become too expensive
In an announcement on December 9, 2025, Ryanair stated that the increase in the tax to 10 euros per passenger from 2027 and the then-planned municipal levy in Charleroi make Belgium uncompetitive compared with other European markets. The company’s commercial director Jason McGuinness said at the time that the cuts relate to the 2026/2027 winter schedule, including five aircraft from Charleroi and 20 routes from Belgian airports. In a later announcement in April 2026, Ryanair went a step further and asked Prime Minister Bart De Wever to abolish the tax immediately, claiming that waiting until a possible summer review would be too late because airlines finalize schedules for winter 2026 and summer 2027 months in advance. According to that announcement, the company warns of the loss of more than two million seats over the period covering the 2026 winter season and the 2027 summer season.
Charleroi is particularly important for Ryanair because it is a base from which the company has developed a broad network of European destinations over the years. According to Belga News Agency, in winter 2025/2026 Ryanair flew from Charleroi to 119 destinations and had 18 aircraft based there, while from Brussels Airport in Zaventem it offered 11 destinations. The announcement of the withdrawal of five aircraft would therefore be felt most strongly in Charleroi, not only through the number of seats but also through flight frequency, the availability of certain routes and pressure on jobs connected with airport services. Ryanair claims that such a cut would endanger thousands of jobs, but the number of jobs directly depends on the final scale of the cuts, the business decisions of the airport and the reactions of other carriers. According to available information, a detailed official list of all 20 routes that would be cancelled has not been published in a form that would allow passengers to fully verify each affected route.
In its argumentation, the company relies on the logic of the low-cost model, according to which basing aircraft, flight frequency and high seat occupancy are sustainable only if airport and tax costs are low. Ryanair often warns that aircraft can be redirected relatively quickly to bases in other countries, while airports and local economies have more difficulty making up for lost connectivity. In the Belgian case, the company claims that more expensive operations will lead to a smaller offering and higher ticket prices, especially on routes where there is no strong competition. Such claims should also be viewed as part of negotiating pressure, because Ryanair has publicly used announcements of cuts in other European countries as well to challenge taxes, airport charges or regulatory decisions. Still, in Belgium the dispute has taken a more concrete form because the announced cuts are tied to precisely stated seasons, the number of aircraft and the expected fall in capacity.
Reactions in Belgium and the position of Charleroi Airport
Belgian institutions are not united in their assessment of the consequences of the tax increase. The federal government included the measure in the budget package, while the Walloon authorities and the management of the airport in Charleroi warned of possible damage to regional connectivity. According to a statement from the office of Walloon Minister for Airports Cécile Neven, when rejecting Charleroi’s municipal tax, the Walloon government emphasized that the airport is a strategic economic tool for the region. The same statement said that the local tax of three euros per passenger, although formally it would not be imposed directly on airlines, would affect the airport concessionaire and could influence its financial sustainability. The Walloon government also said that it wants to protect employment, economic activity and the future of the airport network in the region.
The management of Brussels South Charleroi Airport welcomed the decision of the Walloon government not to confirm the local tax, but according to Télésambre stressed that this is not enough if the federal tax remains unchanged. The airport stated that Ryanair, until the federal measure is changed, is maintaining its plan to withdraw five based aircraft from the 2026/2027 season. BSCA therefore requested talks between the federal and Walloon levels of government, explaining that cost predictability and a clear regulatory picture before flight schedules are finalized are important for the air sector. According to local reports, the debate is especially sensitive because Charleroi depends on a large share of low-cost traffic, and Ryanair is the dominant carrier at that airport.
At the federal level, however, there is currently no confirmation that the increase will be withdrawn. According to a report by Télésambre and Belga from June 9, 2026, Belgian Finance Minister Jan Jambon said in a parliamentary committee that, as far as he is concerned, decisions on that tax have been made and that he has no intention of changing them. At the same time, according to the same report, he added that proposals can be submitted within the budget process if political parties want to open them. That statement further narrowed the room for a quick agreement, although it does not rule out the possibility that the tax will reappear in political negotiations before it enters into force on January 1, 2027. For Ryanair, the problem is that business deadlines come before political deadlines: flight schedules, aircraft basing and commercial sales are planned significantly earlier than the very beginning of the tax year.
What the reduction would mean for passengers
If Ryanair implements the announced cuts, passengers using Charleroi and Brussels Airport could face a smaller choice of direct routes, less frequent departures and higher prices on certain routes. The consequences would not be the same for all destinations. In markets where there are several carriers or a good rail alternative, pressure on prices could be milder. On routes that rely on low-cost flights, especially from Charleroi, the loss of capacity could be more visible. According to Ryanair, aircraft mobility is precisely the key point: if costs in Belgium rise, the company claims it can move capacity to bases where it expects a higher return and more stable tax policy.
For airports, the effect is more complex than the number of passengers alone. Fewer seats mean fewer potential users of airport services, parking lots, shops, catering and ground operations. In the case of Charleroi, possible consequences also affect local suppliers, transport connectivity and jobs that are not necessarily employed directly by Ryanair. According to estimates presented in the Belgian media by sector representatives, the withdrawal of aircraft can have a broader effect on hundreds or thousands of direct and indirect jobs, but the exact number depends on the company’s final decision and possible replacement operations by other carriers. For passengers, it is therefore most important to follow official announcements by carriers and airports, because capacity announcements do not always automatically mean the cancellation of already purchased flights, but they can affect the availability of future dates.
The tax increase also raises the question of how far national fiscal and climate policies can be implemented without weakening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized airports. In theory, a tax on short flights can encourage a shift to trains where a fast and reliable rail connection exists. In practice, the Belgian case shows that airlines view the tax as the overall cost of departing from the country, regardless of whether the flight is a short regional one or a longer European one. Brussels Airlines, according to The Brussels Times, emphasized in the debate the importance of better rail connectivity with Brussels Airport, because an alternative to short flights would be more credible if passengers had simple and fast connections to the airport and between major European cities. This turns the debate on the tax into a broader issue of transport policy, and not just a dispute between one company and the government.
The outcome depends on a political decision and airline deadlines
As of June 13, 2026, the key facts remain the following: the federal increase in the boarding tax is planned for January 1, 2027, Charleroi’s local tax of three euros per passenger for 2026 has been stopped at the Walloon level, and Ryanair continues to link the future scope of its operations in Belgium with the final outcome of the federal measure. According to the company, the 2026/2027 winter flight schedule and plans for summer 2027 cannot wait until the last moment of political negotiations. According to Belgian reports, Finance Minister Jan Jambon so far shows no intention of withdrawing the tax, while the Walloon authorities and Charleroi Airport are seeking a solution that would reduce the risk to regional connectivity and employment. In such circumstances, passengers will not immediately know the final list of affected routes, but they can already expect the Belgian air traffic market to remain under pressure from political decisions and business deadlines in the coming months.
Sources:
- Ryanair Corporate – announcement about the planned capacity reduction in Belgium, the withdrawal of five aircraft and the cancellation of 20 routes in the 2026/2027 winter season. (link)
- Ryanair Corporate – subsequent appeal to the Belgian prime minister to immediately abolish the increase in the federal air traffic tax because of planning winter and summer flight schedules. (link)
- Belgian Parliament – program law document with changes to the amounts of the aircraft boarding tax. (link)
- KPMG TaxNewsFlash – overview of the adopted Belgian program law, publication date and entry into force of tax measures, including the boarding tax. (link)
- SPF Finances Belgium – official information on the DivTax system and changes to the Belgian aircraft boarding tax from July 29, 2025. (link)
- Belga News Agency – report on Ryanair’s announced cuts in Belgium, the number of routes, aircraft and seats, and the role of Charleroi and Brussels Airport. (link)
- Office of Walloon Minister Cécile Neven – statement on the decision of the Walloon government not to approve Charleroi’s municipal tax of three euros per passenger. (link)
- Télésambre / Belga – report on the reaction of Brussels South Charleroi Airport after the blocking of the local tax and concern over the federal tax. (link)
- Télésambre / Belga – report on the position of Finance Minister Jan Jambon that he has no intention of changing the decision on the boarding tax. (link)
- The Brussels Times – report on the reactions of airlines and warnings that the tax increase could be passed on to passengers. (link)