Ryanair faces a fifth strike by pilots in Ireland next Friday after failing to resolve an ongoing dispute.
A quarter of the budget airline’s Irish pilots are set to walk out on August 10 alongside those in up to four European countries.
Members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association – part of the Forsa union – will hold their fourth strike today in a row over base transfers, promotions and leave.
The union, which represents about 100 of the 350 Ryanair pilots in Ireland, plans further action on August 10, the same day that the carrier faces pilot strikes in Belgium and Sweden with those in Germany and Holland likely to also join in.
Today’s stoppage in Ireland has forced the cancellation of 20 out of 300 flights with 3,500 affected passengers re-accommodated or refunded.
A further 3,500 passengers face disruption on August 10 with the same number of Irish flights cancelled.
Ryanair said it “deeply regrets” Forsa’s “unexplained notice” of a fifth strike on August 10 and said the union had rejected repeated offers to meet to resolve the dispute.
The two sides are split over 11 conditions the union has set out as a basis for suspending the industrial action. Ryanair says nine of the requirements have been agreed.
The airline’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs claimed a “handful of Aer Lingus pilots are working behind the scenes with pilot unions in Sweden, Holland, Belgium, and Germany to further disrupt Ryanair’s business and Ryanair’s customers next Friday”.
He added: “Ryanair’s problem in this dispute is that Forsa are not in charge. It is being driven by a tiny handful of Aer Lingus pilots.
“Until Forsa removes these Aer Lingus pilots from the process, more strikes are inevitable, and more customers will have their flights unnecessarily disrupted for the benefit of Aer Lingus and other flag carrier airlines in Sweden, Belgium, Germany and Holland.”
The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association said it remains available for talks.
In a statement, it added: “The airline’s escalation of the dispute last Wednesday – when it threatened to sack 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew, or transfer them to Poland – led to a predictable hardening of resolve among its staff.”
Flight delay compensation firm AirHelp said “affected passengers should not let themselves be deceived by Ryanair’s false statement”.