Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) will temporarily close its two-aircraft base at Brussels National, Belgium, on October 29, 2022 for the winter 2022 season, citing as reason higher costs, including an airport fee hike and new taxes imposed by the Belgian government. However, the Irish budget carrier will continue to operate 12 routes to the airport using aircraft based outside of Belgium.

Making the announcement, Group Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary slammed the Belgium government for introducing what he called "ludicrous", "idiotic", and "absurd" new taxes, including a EUR2 euros (USD2.01) tax per departing passenger on European Union routes and a "fake eco-tax" of EUR10 (USD10.09) for every passenger taking a flight less than 500km. "At the same time, the most polluting long-haul (and connecting) flights continue to pay zero environmental taxes. If the Belgian government were serious about tackling climate change, why are they exempting connecting passengers (the biggest polluters of all) from the EUR10 eco-tax?" he charged.

He said Brussels National had also chosen to increase its fees, making it more uncompetitive with other European airports (including Brussels Charleroi, where Ryanair has 15 aircraft stationed), which had implemented traffic recovery incentive schemes for all airlines. "This winter will be extremely challenging with high oil prices, and so higher cost airports [...] are not sustainable," O'Leary said.

All Ryanair flight crew (including ten pilots and 6o cabin crew) would be offered alternative positions within the Ryanair network, including some positions at Charleroi.

Even though the airline's statement said the closure was seasonal, Dutch-language VRT News quoted O'Leary saying the Irish budget carrier would only return to Brussels National if the taxes were abolished. "We will only return when the flight tax disappears," he said.

Brussels National, in a statement, said Ryanair flights represented just 8% of total passenger traffic at the airport: 30 flights (15 rotations) a day, of which ten flights (five rotations) were with crew stationed in Belgium.

"Ryanair's decision only has a limited impact on the network of destinations at Brussels Airport," the airport said. "Although Ryanair's operations contribute to the offer at Brussels Airport, other airlines offer the same destinations, with the exception of Pisa [Italy] and Amman Queen Alia [Jordan]. Brussels Airport expects other airlines to offer their services to these destinations."

The airport said it had consulted airlines on its tariff proposal for 2023-2027, currently being analysed by Belgium's economic regulator who would make a decision by the end of the year. It said the proposed fee increase took into account the sharp rise in energy prices and high inflation which strongly impacted the cost of airport operations.