Brussels Airport police strikes will cause delays throughout the coming week

Actions by airport police that caused long delays at passport control on their first day on Friday look like being continued throughout the Carnival holidays, police unions said.

On Friday, police began a work to rule at passport control for departures at the airport. The action had been announced earlier in the week, but still managed to catch a lot of passengers unawares.

The result was long queues and anxiety for even those who had turned up on time and missed flights who cut things a little too thin.

The industrial action is in protest at a shortage of manpower, made worse by a lack of materials, which together have created a working environment unions now say has become intolerable.

The queues at passport control affected mainly flights to destinations outside of the Schengen area.

The airport is advising passengers on its website to allow for longer delays from now until 1 March as a result of the police actions. Passengers should arrive one hour earlier than normal, namely three hours before departure, and use public transport where possible. The police actions are likely also to affect arrivals.

Read more via The Brussels Times