Low-cost airline Ryanair will extend its contract with Charleroi airport until 2028 following negotiations, reported l'Écho and RTBF on Saturday.
CEO of Charleroi airport, Philippe Verdonck, confirmed the extension of the contract but declined to comment on the terms of the agreement. Similarly, Hungarian budget airline Wizzair is reported to have finished negotiating an extension of their contract.
Ryanair CEO, Michael O'Leary, stressed that Ryanair wasn't receiving subsidies from Wallonia and the developments at Charleroi are based on different concerns.
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"All we do is negotiate prices. Look at the supermarkets, aren't you saying that Aldi and Lidl are subsidized by their suppliers? They just negotiated bigger discounts from their suppliers in the interest of their customers ," O'Leary said.
RTBF reported that an 189-seat plane would cost €5,400 less from Charleroi than Zaventem airport due to the cost of fees at Zaventem.
Withdrawing flights from Zaventem airport
O'Leary announced earlier in September that Ryanair will withdraw its aircraft from Brussels Zaventem airport, which means one-third of its flights will disappear at least until March. It isn't clear if Ryanair will continue operating from Zaventeem after.
After announcing Ryanair's withdrawal of two planes from Brussels this winter, O'Leary said that Brussels Airport is just a very badly managed airport " and that its director, Arnaud Feist, " does not understand anything at all to aviation ", according to RTBF.
O'Leary questioned the environmental tax on direct flights to and from Belgium. According to the Ryanair boss, the tax should also apply to connecting flights which he said are "twice as polluting."
