Ryanair pilots to go on strike today after pay talks fail
● Edinburgh and Glasgow airports do not expect cancellations
UK pilots employed by Ryanair will strike today and tomorrow after last-minute talks collapsed.
The British Airline Pilots’ Association(balpa)confirmed last night that negotiations with the airline operator had failed to reach an outcome to prevent strikes over pay and conditions.
Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said: “Ryanair foolishly tried to stop our strike in the High Court and failed.
“Despite that, we extended an olive branch to Ryanair as a way of getting back around the table and calling off strikes over the next two days.
“We are extremely disappointed that Ryanair have taken such a belligerent and negative stance. We have become used to their macho posturing but sadly it is their passengers who will pay the price for Ryanair’s attitude.”
The outcome could spell significant disruption for UK holidaymakers, with the possibility of delays or even cancellation of flights across Scotland and the UK. There are several dozen Ryanair flights scheduled to and from Edinburgh today, as well as ten at Glasgow, around nine at Prestwick and a handful at Aberdeen.
Adam French, consumer rights expert at Which?, said after the decision: “The threat of more travel chaos over this busy bank holiday weekend will be a crushing blow for passengers who are likely to have spent weeks worrying about whether their holiday flights will take off. Ryanair now needs to take every possible step to minimise disruption by informing passengers likely to be affected and offering refunds or alternative transport as required by law in the event of cancellation – if necessary, on other airlines.
“The airline already has a track record of trying to shirk its responsibility to pay compensation to passengers when strikes by its staff go ahead, so we would expect the aviation regulator to step in and take strong action at the first sign of the airline trying to fob off its customers.”
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports both told The Scotsman they did not expect flight cancellations today as a result of the strike, but advised all passengers to check for updates
PICTURE; AP
before travelling. Pilots can be drafted in from elsewhere in Europe to fill in during strike action.
Ryanair had yesterday lost a High Court bid to block the ability of UK pilots to strike.
The airline said in a statement on its website: “Thanks to the great work and volunteerism of the vast majority of our Uk-based pilots, Ryanair now expects to operate its full schedule of flights to/from our UK airports on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 August.
“We do not expect significant disruptions on Thursday or Friday. However, we cannot rule out some small flight delays and/or flight changes.
“We are working hard with our pilot teams to minimise any such delays.”