Thousands facing chaos as Ryanair fails to halt strike

‘Belligerent and negative’

A QUARTER of a million air passengers had their travel plans thrown into doubt last night after Ryanair lost a legal bid to halt a pilots’ strike.

A judge rejected an application by the Irish carrier for an injunction against the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa).

It means a strike scheduled for today and tomorrow will go ahead.

Paul Gott, QC, for Ryanair, told the High Court in London that the strike could be ‘enormously disruptive’, and Ryanair would suffer ‘significant reputational’ damage.

The airline’s claim that Balpa had breached protocol on resolving disputes was also rejected.

Following the verdict, Balpa said it had offered an ‘olive branch to Ryanair’ and promised to avoid strikes if the airline agreed to its conditions for negotiations.

But the offer was immediately rebuffed by Ryanair.

Despite the warning given in court, the budget airline insisted it now has enough pilots on standby to ensure there is ‘no significant disruption’ for passengers.

It said it had been inundated with offers to work from pilots who were not rostered to fly during the strikes. Passengers will receive a text message and an email confirming a full flight schedule will operate.

Which? consumer rights expert Adam French said: ‘Ryanair now needs to take every possible step to minimise disruption.’

More than a quarter of a million passengers are booked on 1,714 flights from UK airports today and tomorrow.

Last night, Balpa apologised to all those who find that their flights have been delayed or cancelled.

General secretary Brian Strutton said: ‘Ryanair foolishly tried to stop our strike in the High Court today 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.’

Ryanair succeeded at the High Court in Dublin in a bid to prevent a separate 48-hour strike from midnight tonight by pilots based in Ireland.

The UK strike has been backed by around 350 of Ryanair’s 1,250 British-based pilots. But the airline pointed out that not all of them were scheduled to work over the two days.

It said: ‘We are now confident we can operate a full schedule of flights to/from our UK airports.

‘We don’t expect significant disruption and while we cannot rule out some minor delays or flight changes, we wanted to remove the uncertainty and stress that our customers and their families were experiencing since this unjustified strike was called.’

Ryanair claims Balpa is demanding pay rises worth between 62 per cent and 121 per cent over two years.

One UK pilot on a package of £158,042 a year is said to be demanding a rise which would push up their total package to £349,922 in 2021. Balpa has disputed the figures, claiming they are exaggerated.

Talks to stave off the threat of strikes by Balpa pilots working for British Airways are continuing.