Ryanair cancels flights as strike hits Europe

BRUSSELS: Ryanair canceled scores of European lights on Friday but downplayed the impact of a strike that unions hoped would be the biggest in the airline’s history.

The Dublin-based carrier insisted that the disruption to customers was limited, but unions claimed that they had halted more than the 190 lights listed as cancelled on the Ryanair website.

Many cabin crew walked out in Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain and in some countries pilots’ unions also took action.

“Today, over 2,150 Ryanair lights (90 per cent of our schedule) will operate as normal, carrying 400,000 customers across Europe,” the airline said.

In Belgium, 48 lights were cancelled, about half of those planned, according to igures provided by the two airports used by the low-cost carrier.

“Some cabin crew staff earn 2,000 euros, and you have a colleague who does exactly the same work, who only earns 1,000 euros, and with 1,000 euros in Belgium, it is impossible to live,” Yves Lambot of the CNE union in Belgium said.

Tensions ran high at Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands, where some passengers had already passed though security when a light to London was cancelled with just half-an-hour until take-off.

The Dutch union VNV said it was seeking to take legal action to prevent Ryanair from bringing pilots in from abroad to replace striking Dutch crews.