Potentially bad news for Irish Ryanair customers during a traditionally busy week on the travel front.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has warned of a potential Ryanair strike in Ireland during Easter week, traditionally a busy time for Irish holidaymakers during the school holidays.
Speaking at a news conference in Lisbon on Wednesday, O’Leary, according to Reuters, said: “We expect some adverse publicity… and some disruptions. We had a strike in Germany on 22 December… we expect the next one will be in Ireland – or maybe it will be in Portugal – during Easter week.”
Earlier this month, O’Leary had warned of “short-term disruptions” for Ryanair in the near future as the airline prepares to extend its recent recognition of pilot unions to cabin crew staff.
Ryanair recently recognised pilot unions in Ireland and elsewhere for the first time in its history and in a statement that accompanied the publication of Ryanair’s Q3 financial results in February, O’Leary said that similar engagement with cabin crew unions could lead to “some complexity for our business and may cause short-term disruptions and negative PR”.
The specific mention of Ireland by O’Leary may cause concern for Irish Ryanair customers who have booked flights during Easter week, although no flights were cancelled during the four-hour strike in Germany before Christmas which O’Leary referred to on Wednesday.
In a statement to JOE, a Ryanair spokesperson said: “This is old news. As we explained in our Q3 results on 5 Feb last (see below), ‘as we finalise union discussions along similar lines to that agreed in the UK, we expect some localised disruptions and adverse PR so investors should be prepared for same’.”
Extract from Ryanair Q3 Results (issued 5 February 2018)
FY18 Outlook:
Our outlook for the remainder of FY18 is cautious. As we finalise union discussions along similar lines to that agreed in the UK, we expect some localised disruptions and adverse PR so investors should be prepared for same.
In certain jurisdictions unions representing competitor airlines will wish to test our commitment to our low cost, high pay/high productivity model to disrupt our operations. We are fully prepared to face down any such disruption if it means defending our cost base or our high productivity model.
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