The Ryanair strike will last for another 12 days in July, and EasyJet employees will join in, causing havoc at Spanish airports. Although the airlines are doing everything possible to reduce the number of cancelled flights, the delays are significant.
More than 170 flights were delayed and 15 others to and from Spain were canceled by this weekend as a result of a current Ryanair strike, and not the employees Ryanair and EasyJet staff announced 12 more days of stoppages trying to obtain better working conditions.
The strike at the two low-cost airlines over pay and working conditions began as European schools started breaking up for the summer, creating headaches for both holidaymakers and the aviation sector.
So far, 10 Ryanair and five EasyJet flights had been canceled and 175 flights delayed, of which 123 were Ryanair and 52 EasyJet, unions said in a statement.
The series of rolling strikes by Ryanair cabin crew in Spain – where there are some 1,900 employees – began on June 24, with EasyJet staff joining on Friday.
Ryanair’s union represenative said the new stoppages would take place in three four-day stretches: July 12 to 15, July 18 to 21, and July 25 to 28 at the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair operates. Valencia is one of those 10 bases where the effects of the Ryanair strike fill be felt, together with the airports in Alicante, Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Barcelona, Ibiza, Girona, Santiago de Compostela and Palma De Mallorca.
“After six days of strike and in view of the unwillingness of the company to listen to its staff and its preference for leaving thousands of passengers grounded rather than sitting down to negotiate an agreement under Spanish law, we have been forced to call new strike days,” said staff representative Lidia Arasanz.
She said the initial Ryanair strike, which consisted of two three-day stretches, had seen “more than 200 flights canceled and almost 1,000 delays,” with the upcoming stoppages likely to create similar levels of disruption.
Ryanair is the busiest airline on the Spanish market, operating some 650 routes from Spain and employing close to 2.000 people as cabin crew.
EasyJet crews have also pledged to strike during the first three weekends of July to demand parity in working conditions in line with other European airlines.
The strikes are a headache for the aviation sector, which has struggled to recruit people after massive layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, in France, dozens of flights were canceled at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport where firefighters have been on strike since Thursday, forcing the aviation authorities to close a number of runways as a preventative measure.
As per the airport operator ADP, one in five incoming or outgoing flights to the French capital was canceled in the last couple of days.
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