[WATCH] Ryanair boss pied in the face by environment activists in Belgium

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary was splattered in the face with a pair of cream pies by eco-activists as he prepared to speak to the media in Brussels earlier today.

O'Leary, 62, was in the Belgian capital to speak at a press conference and deliver a petition to protect overflights in Europe amid the news Ryanair pilots based in Belgium had called a strike.

He was delivering an interview - alongside a cardboard cut-out of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen - when a black-clad woman ran up and smashed the pie into his face.

O'Leary reeled away and ducked his head down to avoid a potential blow - giving a second woman the opportunity to run up behind him and deliver a second spatter of cream down the back of his neck.

“Welcome to Belgium!” the activists cheered as they ran off.

The ordeal didn't appear to trouble the Ryanair boss too much. Speaking to media after the incident, he jokingly declared he “never had such a warm welcome.”

“Unfortunately, it was environmentalists and the cream was artificial. I invite passengers to come to Ireland where the cream is better!” he said.

Dissatisfaction from environmentalists is not the only thing casting a shadow over O’Leary’s trip to Belgium. Belgian pilots at Charleroi are planning to strike on September 14 and 15, for the fourth time in two months, to protest against low wages.

There are a lot of cream pies being thrown in Belgium at the moment. On Saturday, Georges-Louis Bouchez, head of the Francophone liberal MR party, was hit in the face with a pie during a book signing in Liège. Bouchez was not as calm as O'Leary and smeared some of the cream in the pie thrower's face after he was restrained by bystanders.