All flights in and out of Ryanair's Belgian hub at Charleroi airport were grounded on Friday after security staff walked out. A row over the privatisation of public sector security personnel caused the disruption at Belgium's Charleroi airport, in the neighbourhood of Brussels.

After it had begun at dawn on Friday, it spread to Liege airport in the east, but the strike did not affect Brussels' main international airport. Ryanair had been impacted as the airline uses the airport as a major European hub, and estimates talk about 8,000 passengers having been affected by the action so far.

Ryanair said the last-minute action called by the Ministry of Equipment Transport Union (MET) had also led to the cancellation of about 45 flights to other European destinations. Union officials and management were due to have talks later on Friday.