Ryanair announced today that at least 12% of its flights will be canceled on July 25 and 26 due to the strike announced by cabin crew members, as the crisis of employment relations in the company escalates.
The Irish airline said in a statement that it expected the travel plans of some 50.000 customers traveling to and from Belgium, Portugal and Spain to be disrupted, with up to 300 flights being canceled each day.
The largest low-cost carrier canceled 30 flights on July 12, when several pilots in Ireland went on strike for the company to date.
The planned strikes aimed at achieving improved working conditions are another blow to the airline's attempts to quell the "rebellion" of staff that began last year.
Cabin crew members across Europe released a list of 4 requirements on July 34, including "a fair living wage", improved sick leave pay and employment contracts in their own language under local rather than Irish law.
Ryanair points out that its staff works in some of the best conditions on low-cost airlines.
Crew members point out that the company failed to significantly improve conditions after the unions were recognized in December.
Ryanair, which flies to 37 countries and carried 130 million passengers last year, prevented widespread pre-Christmas strikes by deciding to recognize the unions for the first time in its 32-year history.
However, since then he has been struggling to reach an agreement on working conditions with several of the unions.