Threat to holiday flights as O’Leary warns of strikes
HOLIDAYMAKERS in the North East looking to get away at Easter with Ryanair could see their plans hit by industrial action.
The Irish carrier has been in talks with pilots since December, when it agreed to recognise trade unions for the first time in its history.
Ryanair has met pilot unions in Ireland, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and France, with other countries to follow, and union recognition will be extended to cabin crew later in the year, boss Michael O’Leary said.
Last week the airline agreed the Balpa union will represent all its British pilots in talks.
But talks with some other unions have broken down and O‘Leary warned investors the airline was likely to be targeted by strikes.
He said: “We have some jurisdictions where we are getting the kind of laughable demands for legacy-type inefficiencies.”
Mr O‘Leary added: “Frankly we will never agree to those ... if we have to take strikes or disruptions in those jurisdictions, then we will take those.”
Ryanair flies to a number of hotspots from Newcastle including Alicante, Barcelona Girona, Lanzarote, Malaga, Mallorca and Tenerife.
A shortage of pilots led the airline to cancel thousands of flights last year.
Mr O’Leary made his comments as the company reported rising third-quarter profits.
The carrier booked a 12% increase in net profit to 106 million euros (£93.5 million) in the three months to December 31.
Revenues rose 4% to 1.4 billion euros while passenger numbers rose 6% to 30.4 million during a period in which Ryanair was forced to cancel flights after mismanaging pilots’ annual leave.
Ryanair has since pledged to increase pay.