RYANAIR has lost its bid to stop UK pilots from striking.
The planned industrial action will start from midnight tonight and will last two days.
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Ryanair said in a statement: “Ryanair regrets the decision by less than 30% of our highly paid UK pilots to vote for strikes on Thurs 22nd & Fri 23rd August, in support of unreasonable pay demands that Captains pay be DOUBLED from a current £170,000 p.a. to over £375,700 p.a., just 9 weeks before BREXIT, which could severely damage Ryanair’s business and UK pilot jobs.
“Ryanair applied today to the London High Court for an injunction to prevent this unjustified strike by a small number of pilots going ahead during the last week of the UK school holidays.
“However thanks to the great work and volunteerism of the vast majority of our UK based pilots, Ryanair now expects to operate its full schedule of flights to/from our UK airports on Thurs 22nd and Fri 23rd.
“We do not expect significant disruptions on Thurs or Friday, however we cannot rule out some small flight delays and/or flight changes. We are working hard with our pilot teams to minimise any such delays for our customers and their families.
“All passengers scheduled to travel on flights to/from UK airports on Thurs 22nd & Fri 23rd Aug should arrive at their departure airport as normal and they can expect their scheduled Ryanair flight to depart on time.
“We sincerely thank the vast majority of our UK based pilots for volunteering to fly on Thurs & Fri so that we can minimise disruptions to our customers and their families during the last week of the school holidays.
“We again call on the BALPA union and this small minority of UK pilots to return to Mediation, as they are required to under our Recognition Agreement. British pilots earning six figure annual salaries should not be threatening the holiday flights of thousands of British passengers and their families (very few of whom earn over £170,000 p.a.).”
