Over 70,000 passengers have been affected by the Ryanair strike today. Pilots from across Europe have coordinated a day of industrial action which correlates with one of the busiest days of the summer. The worst-affected UK airports are Stansted and Manchester.
According to the airline, approximately 250 flights to and from Germany have been cancelled with Berlin Schonefeld the worst affected, as well as 104 flights to Belgium, 22 to Sweden and 20 to Ireland.
Some Gatwick, Birmingham and Bristol links with Dublin have been grounded. Other cancellations include Bristol to Cologne and Glasgow to Berlin.
The strike has come out because of disputes over base transfers and seniority issues. Both sides have agreed to third-party negotiation, but only once the strike is over.
German employees of Ryanair are striking for better pay and conditions. Their union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), said: “Ryanair alone is responsible for the escalation that has now occurred.
“VC regrets the impact on affected passengers, cabin crew and ground crew.”
Ryanair has tweeted: “Despite the regrettable and unjustified strike action taking place in five of our 37 markets, over 2,000 Ryanair flights will operate as normal, carrying almost 400,000 passengers across Europe.
“We ask the striking unions to continue negotiations instead of calling any more unjustified strikes.”
The airline has also claimed that: “There may be a push for legacy type working conditions which if acceded to could decrease the productivity of pilots, increase costs and have an adverse effect on profitability.
“Ryanair intends to retain its low-fare/high people productivity model; however, there may be periods of labour unrest as unions challenge the existing high-productivity model which may have an adverse effect on customer sentiment and profitability.”
The International Transport Workers’ Federation is coordinating strikes by Ryanair’s pilots and cabin crew across Europe have said: “Ryanair has a long way to go before it can be considered a fair employer. Calls for industrial action will continue until the company makes good collective bargaining agreements with unions.”
