Spain? Strike. Portugal? Strike. Belgium? Strike. Italy? Strike. Ireland? Strike. It has not been a good month for Ryanair…
The Irish-based carrier is facing a summer of discontent as labor strife across its European bases spirals into total disaster. I don’t think I’m exaggerating.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled over the last week as pilots and fight attendants have staged strikes across the European Union. Ryanair is threatening to fire over 300 pilots and FAs based in Ireland over disagreements on wages and working conditions.
As Bill Murphy, Jr. noted on INC, over the last eight days more than 120,000 passengers have faced delays. Clams under EU261 could total over $39,000,000!
Other Airlines Gleefully Recruit
British Airways, EasyJet, and Norwegian are all hoping to poach disgruntled pilots and flight attendants from Ryanair. Recruiting campaigns are actively underway.
The transition to Norwegian, which uses the same type of Boeing 737s that Ryanair does, would be easy for pilots. British Airways and EasyJet uses Airbus for their narrow-body fleet, but could offer an expedited re-training program for ex-Ryanair pilots. Flight attendants will also encounter an easy transition.
CONCLUSION
Ryanair employees unionized last year after the airline screwed up vacation schedules for pilots. Since then, pilots and flights attendants have begun to push back. As a pilot shortage grips the worldwide aviation industry, Ryanair pilots have enjoyed a particularly strong position of bargaining power. What will this labor unrest do for Ryanair? Right now, we can only watch…but it isn’t pretty for the Irish carrier.
image: Ryanair / Instagram
Sudden?
Ryan Air has succeeded in part by using every trick in the book to suppress wages and benefits for its employees as a major component of keeping its costs low. It would seem that this strategy has finally come home to roost.
While I’m sympathetic to the impact on customers who are caught in the middle I’ve got zero sympathy for the impact this will have on Ryan Air and it’s management team.
Who’s ‘Ryan Air’?
Willing to bet you’re American lol.
It’s a European airline where you can go from eg Holland to England for like eg 25 euros try doing that in Canada or the states
They won’t be missed.
Oh boy ….how wrong can you be ! You will miss Ryanair when you have to pay 3 or 4 times the price to fly with another airline . Ryanair are the reason ALL airlines charge much less than they did before. Example…in 1982 I was charged 379 Irish punts (400 euros) to fly one way from Shannon to London (economy class). By Airlingus !!
It is competition dragging Ryanair down. But who will suffer in the end? Customers? Management? No, employees!
Hubris usually results in a comeuppance. The greater the hubris, the bigger the comeuppance.
I, for one, don’t want to be anywhere near Michael O’Leary on his way down.
I agree! This could not happened to a more appropriate airline. Disobeyed judges order to not say us flying in and out of Düsseldorf. We lost money if 14 tickets becaus if this . Constant problem according to Düsseldorf Aurpott authorities. Sorry , uncaring response from airline continuing to ignore judges ruling!! They need to lose their company !!!!!