Ryanair’s pilots plan to target flights around the bank holiday
RYANAIR pilots are to announce more strikes early next month, when their German colleagues may also mount pickets.
Sources revealed that August 2 – the Thursday before the bank holiday – as well as Friday, August 10, will be given serious consideration as potential dates at a meeting of a Fórsa disputes committee today.
Meanwhile, strikes by cabin crew in Spain, Portugal and Belgium will hit up to 100,000 passengers as 600 flights are grounded over the next 48 hours.
Ryanair has not said whether Irish flights will be affected by this industrial action. But sources in the travel industry claimed only two outbound and two inbound Irish flights will be cancelled.
Meanwhile, sources said German and Irish pilot unions are likely to be on strike during the first two weeks of next month.
Members of German union Vereinigung Cockpit are currently balloting.
Contractors
As many as 2,500 passengers were hit yesterday during a third strike by Irish-based directly employed pilots, which led to 16 flight cancellations. Ryanair said these pilots make up just 25pc of its pilot workforce. Most Ryanair pilots are contractors.
So far, the airline has managed to minimise the impact of the strikes by rebooking passengers on alternative flights or giving them refunds – so there were no angry scenes at Dublin Airport yesterday. The impact of the strikes was almost imperceptible. Any passengers who were asked while checking in at the Ryanair desk said they had not been affected.
Pilots staged their picket outside Ryanair’s HQ in Airside in Swords from early morning – although they took a long break between 10am and 11am before returning until around 1.30pm.
Pilots from American Airlines joined them in support and some cars that drove by beeped as they passed.
The pilots want a seniority list to be set up that gives those with longest service first call on holidays, promotions and transfers. But the airline yesterday claimed they could not explain their demand, and said it “doesn’t even affect them”.
In response to the airline’s claims that the strikes are unnecessary, Simon Croghan of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) replied: “Not necessary. Really.”
In a statement, Ryanair said the 100,000 European customers whose flights were cancelled have been reaccommodated or applied for refunds.
“We expect no further cancellations tomorrow,” it said yesterday.
Fórsa spokesperson Bernard Harbor said further industrial action by pilots could not legally take place for another week, if it is announced today.
He said this could give both sides “breathing space” for talks if Ryanair was ready for serious engagement.