Strikes by Ryanair and Brussels Airlines workers over pay and working conditions forced the cancellation of dozens of flights in Europe on Friday as the busy summer travel season begins.
The strikes are another headache for passengers and the aviation sector, which is struggling with staff shortages after massive layoffs during the Covid pandemic.
Ryanair’s cabin crew unions in Spain, Portugal and Belgium called a three-day strike on Friday, and in Italy and France on Saturday.
The biggest impact was felt in Belgium, where the work stoppage caused Europe’s biggest low-cost airline to cancel 127 flights to and from Charleroi Airport near Brussels between Friday and Sunday.
Ryanair can only guarantee 30 to 40 percent of its scheduled flights at the airport, a spokeswoman for Brussels South Charleroi Airport said.
The situation in Belgium was further complicated by a three-day strike by employees of Brussels Airlines, a unit of German airline Lufthansa, which began on Thursday.
The company canceled 315 flights to and from Brussels International Airport during the three-day strike.
The Ryanair strike had very little impact in Portugal and none in Spain, where no flights were cancelled.
“We didn’t even know there was a strike… we had no problem at all,” said Manuel Carrion, a Spanish passenger on a Ryanair flight at Madrid airport.
Spain’s Transport Ministry on Thursday ordered Ryanair to operate 73 to 82 percent of flights during the strike period to maintain minimum traffic.
There must be a balance between the “right to strike” and the “interests of travellers”.
– ‘Threats’ –
But unions said Ryanair went beyond what was necessary, forcing staff to maintain all 438 flights scheduled in Spain on Friday.
“The company informed employees that all flights are subject to minimum service and threatened them with disciplinary action,” Ernesto Iglesias, of the local USO, told reporters at Madrid Airport.
The airline “didn’t respect the law,” he added.
Ryanair’s cabin crew unions in Spain have called another strike from 30 June to 2 July.
A strike over the weekend of June 12-13 has already resulted in the cancellation of around 40 Ryanair flights in France, or around a quarter of the total.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary opposed the strikes, saying earlier this month that most of the company’s flights “will continue even if there is a strike by a Mickey Mouse union in Spain or if the Belgian cabin crew unions do.” want to go on strike.”
Less than two percent of the airline’s 3,000 flights on Friday were affected by strikes, Ryanair said in a statement.
– “Marginalized” –
Ryanair’s low-cost rival easyJet is also facing nine-day strikes on separate days in July at Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca airports.
British Airways workers at London’s Heathrow Airport have voted to go on strike over pay as the UK’s cost of living crisis deepens, although no dates have been set.
The strikes come as air travel has recovered since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
However, staff shortages have forced airlines to cancel flights, with German carrier Lufthansa canceling more than 3,000 of them over the summer holidays.
On Monday, the European Transport Workers’ Federation “urged passengers not to blame workers for the airport disasters, canceled flights, long queues and longer check-in times, lost luggage or delays caused by decades of corporate greed.” and a removal of decent jobs in that sector.”
The association said it expects “the chaos the aviation sector is currently facing will only increase over the summer as workers are marginalized”.
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