Ryanair strike: Airline cancels 190 flights blaming 'unnecessary' walkout
Ryanair has cancelled 190 flights scheduled for Friday because of strikes by cabin crews across Europe.
The budget airline blasted the "tiny minority" over the "unnecessary strike".
The cancelled flights are 8 per cent of the 2,400 originally scheduled. About 30,000 customers are likely to be affected.
Crews are striking in Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Italy and Germany. In a strongly-worded statement, Ryanair said the action had been called by unions "at the behest of competitor airline employees".
All affected customers have received emails and text SMS messages this morning advising them of their flight cancellation 3 days in advance.
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 25, 2018
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said on Tuesday: “We sincerely apologise to those customers affected by these unnecessary strikes on Friday, which we have done our utmost to avoid, given that we have already offered these unions recognition agreements.
"These repeated unnecessary strikes are damaging Ryanair’s business and our customer confidence.
"We hope these unions will see common sense and work with us to finalise agreements for the benefit of our pilots and cabin crew over the coming weeks without further disrupting our customers or our flights."
The airline added all affected customers have received emails or text messages informing them of the cancellation.
Ryanair cancelled hundreds of flights last year due to problems with pilot scheduling, and strikes led to more cancellations this summer.
The budget airline and pilots have wrangled over working conditions, base transfers and annual leave.