Various European airports witnessed cancelling or delaying of hundreds of flights on Saturday, July 2, as the industry is struggling with continuous worker strikes.
Labor action by some cabin crews at the two low-cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet, as well as by airport workers at the second busiest airport in Europe, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle in Paris, is causing significant issues for airlines just as the first school summer holidays start after two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
One in every five flights from the main airport in Paris got was cancelled on Saturday morning, while the Ryanair and EasyJet strike led to the cancellation of over 15 flights to and from Spain, with almost 175 delayed.
The cabin crew of Ryanair also stated another 12 days of work stoppages, whereas Paris airport workers asserted they would walk out again for a protest from July 8 to July 10.
The striking cabin crews are further demanding enhancements in their working conditions and pay to put them in line as such other European airlines.
Ryanair workers have been on strike since June 24 as they strive to bring the company towards a negotiation table, while EasyJet cabin crews joined the strike on Friday, July 1.
Lidia Arasanz from the USO union that has organized the Ryanair workers said that, almost after six days of continuous strike and in view of the unwillingness of the airline company to listen to its staff and its option to leave thousands of tourists grounded rather than sitting down to talk about the negotiations under the Spanish law, they had been forced to call new strike days.
She further said that the initial strike had witnessed a total of more than 200 flights cancelled with almost 1000 delayed flights, adding that the new strike is likely to cause more disruptions.
