Ryanair has cancelled 30 out of 290 flights to and from Ireland today after the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association voted for strike action.
Only flights between Ireland and the UK are affected.
The budget carrier apologised for the “regrettable disruptions”, saying it was trying to minimise the impact of the industrial action on passengers travelling to Portugal, France, Spain, Italy and Greece.
The cancellations are all on high frequency routes between Ireland and UK destinations including Stansted, where passengers can easily switch to alternative flights.
The Irish pilots’ concerns relate to pay and conditions including a dispute over seniority, as well as the procedures for allocation of base transfers, promotions and annual leave.
Ryanair is facing further strikes in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium later in the summer.
However, the airline said: “These co-ordinated strike threats are designed to cause unnecessary disruption to customers and damage Ryanair’s low fare model, for the benefit of high fare competitor airlines in Ireland and Germany.”
Ryanair also warned of that “small delays” were expected at Stansted in the early afternoon due to the arrival of US president Donald Trump to the UK.