Ryanair says 12 days of Spanish crew strikes will not hit Irish flights

Ryanair said it expects no disruption to Irish flights later this month following an announcement of 12 days of strikes by Spain-based cabin crew.

The days of action later this month to demand better working conditions were announced by the USO and SICTPLA unions on Saturday. The announcement came on the final day of the crews’ current strike, which began on Thursday .

In a statement on Saturday the airline said there was no disruption to its Irish flights either on Friday or Saturday “as a result of minor and poorly supported union led strikes in Spain and we do not expect any disruption to Irish flight schedules in July (12th-28th) as a result of such poorly supported Spanish labour strikes”.

Cabin crew will strike on July 12th to 15th, July 18th to 21st and July 25th to 28th across the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair operates, the unions said in a statement.

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“The unions and crew of Ryanair ... demand a change of attitude from the airline,” they said in a statement, calling for Ryanair to resume negotiations on working conditions.

[ The five worst passengers you can meet on a flight — according to an air steward ]

The unions also urged the Spanish government “not to allow Ryanair to violate labour legislation and constitutional rights such as the right to strike”.

Aer Lingus

Separately Aer Lingus has cancelled flights to and from Ireland on Saturday and Sunday throwing the plans of more passengers into disarray this weekend .

The vast majority of flights scheduled to depart and arrive from Dublin Airport are operating normally although Aer Lingus have once again been forced to cancel a number of routes as a result of Covid-related staffing issues and industrial action in France.

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An Aer Lingus flight to London Gatwick due to depart shortly before 9am was pulled from the schedule while an afternoon flight to Lyon and an evening flight to Amsterdam were also cancelled as were the corresponding return flights.

“Due to a spike in Covid cases, Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel three return flights [on Saturday] and three return flights [on Sunday],” an Aer Lingus spokeswoman said.

Flights to Lisbon and Milan on Sunday are among those impacted by the wave of cancellations which is now coming close to 70 over the last seven days.

“Additionally, ground-handling industrial action at Lyon Airport has required the cancellation of two return flights to Lyon [on Saturday],” the spokeswoman said. “Just over 1 per cent of Aer Lingus flights have been impacted by cancellations in June. Aer Lingus wishes to apologise to those impacted and teams at the airline are working to reaccommodate impacted passengers on the next available services as efficiently as possible.”

A Tap Air Portugal flight to Lisbon on Saturday was also cancelled.

However Dublin Airport appeared to be operating smoothly on Saturday morning with the DAA, the authority that runs the airport, estimating the time to clear the security screening at Terminal 1 at 30 minutes and 20 minutes for Terminal 2.

Baggage Handlers

While people are moving through the airport smoothly, the same can’t be said for baggage and there are multiple reports of bags not arriving or being lost in transit.

One of the main luggage-handling companies operating at Dublin Airport has apologised for the role it played in an increase in the number of bags going missing at the airport in recent days.

[ Swissport apologises for missing bags as more than 1,000 Aer Lingus passengers hit by cancelled flights ]

A spokesman for Swissport, which handles baggage for airlines all over the world and is one of a number of such companies with an operation in Dublin Airport, told The Irish Times that while it had embarked on a massive recruitment drive since the start of the year and hired more than 3,500 new people, its capacity had been stretched in recent weeks.

It pointed to issues including lengthy queues at security and late changes to flight schedules imposed by airlines which, it said, had disrupted the flow of baggage through airports and led to an increase in bags going missing or being delayed in reaching passengers.

“The post-pandemic return in travel demand is positive news, but the current peak period — which can be stretching even in normal times — is exacerbating resource challenges across the recovering aviation industry,” the spokesman said.

“Airlines, airports and aviation services all work together to deliver different elements of a single passenger journey and in busy periods the knock-on effects of delays stemming from one part, such as air traffic issues, security queues and late changes to flight schedules can lead to disruption in others.”

He said the company was “very sorry for our part in the disruption people are experiencing. We are working hard to address our resource challenges, with over 3,500 new hirings since the start of the year. We will continue to work with our partners to find solutions for this industry-wide issue.” - Additional reporting Reuters