Ryanair flight warning – cabin crew threaten strikes across Europe this summer

RYANAIR passengers could see huge flight disruptions this summer as cabin crew across Europe are threatening to strike.

SITCPLA and Spanish union USO have joined with organisations in France, Portugal, Italy and Belgium.

The threatened walkout is over a pay dispute, which they said had left them with "no other option".

Europe's biggest budget airline walked away from the talks on Tuesday arguing the strike threat by European unions showed a lack of commitment to dialogue, USO and STCPLA said in a joint statement.

They accused Ryanair of acting in bad faith and said they sought to return to the negotiating table.

SITCPLA said: “We’re coordinating our actions with European counterparts.” 

A Ryanair spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: "Ryanair has negotiated collective agreements covering 90 per cent of our people across Europe.

"In recent months we have been negotiating improvements to those agreements as we work through the Covid recovery phase. Those negotiations are going well and we do not expect widespread disruption this summer.

In Spain, we are pleased to have reached a collective agreement with CCOO, Spain’s largest and most representative union, delivering improvements for Spanish-based cabin crew and reinforcing Ryanair’s commitment to the welfare of its cabin crew.

"These announcements by the much smaller USO and SITCPLA unions are a distraction from their own failures to deliver agreements after three years of negotiations and we believe that any strikes they call will not be supported by our Spanish crews.”

The walkout could cause further chaos for Brits this summer after weeks of chaos has seen thousands of flights cancelled.

Yesterday, Italian pilots and flight attendants went on strike yesterday, causing a number of flight cancellations.

And a British Airways pilot has since said there is "no chance" of summer normality due to a shortage of staff.

They said: "We might be correctly crewed by winter time. There is no chance this will be sorted this summer."

Airlines are also being forced to reduce their schedules to try and avoid any future chaos.

TUI is reducing their flight schedule this month, affecting roughly six flights a day.

And British Airways has cancelled 16,000 flights between March and October.

Here is how to get compensation if your flight or holiday is cancelled.