26th Jul 2018 16:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Budget airline Ryanair on Thursday refused to compensate passengers whose flights were cancelled due to strikes by Ryanair staff this week because it deems the action "unreasonable."
The airline cancelled 600 flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday due to a strike by cabin crew in Belgium, Spain and Portugal, affecting some 50,000 passengers.
Under EU legislation for flight cancellations, an airline should pay EUR250 to each passenger, unless they are informed at least two weeks in advance or are offered alternative flights arriving at their destination the same day.
An airline can withhold compensation if it can show that the cancellation is "caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken," according to the rules.
"Ryanair fully complies with all EU...legislation. However, as these flight cancellations were caused by extraordinary circumstances, no compensation is due," the airline said.
It argued that no compensation is payable "when the union is acting unreasonably and totally beyond the airline's control."
Ryanair faces another one-day strike next week by Irish-based pilots, as a European pilots' union on Thursday accused it of attempted "union busting" by warning that it could cut up to 300 staff in Ireland this winter.
On Thursday, the airline cancelled 20 of its 300 scheduled flights to and from Ireland on August 3, saying the Irish pilots' union had rejected its offer to hold talks.
The airline said it issued notices of possible redundancy to 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew after its board approved a plan to cut its Dublin-based fleet from 30 to 24 aircraft over the winter.
"This unfortunate and entirely avoidable decision by Ryanair can be interpreted at best as a very immature response to legitimate strike action," said Dirk Polloczek, president of the European Cockpit Association.
"At worst as a bold attempt at union busting and an effort to put maximum pressure on pilots to stop industrial action," Polloczek added.
Philip von Schoeppenthau, the ECA's secretary general, said the airline's "provocation and unnecessary behaviour will only encourage even more pilots to leave Ryanair for competitor airlines."
"The myth of union-friendly Ryanair is falling apart," von Schoeppenthau said, accusing the airline of "reverting to its previous anti-union tactics, while claiming publicly to constructively engage with its unions."
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