TUESDAY 20 AUGUST 2019Ryanair blew its chance to
settle our strike, say pilots
Budget airline went to the courts rather than talk through disputes (PA)
SIMON CALDER
TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT
Half a million passengers are unwittingly caught up in an increasingly bad-tempered dispute between
Ryanair and its UK-based pilots.
On Thursday and Friday, 22 and 23 August, as well as on 2, 3 and 4 September, flight crew employed in
Britain by Europe’s biggest budget airline are intending to strike.
The Independent calculates that 500,000 people with confirmed bookings are at risk of having their flights
cancelled over the five days.
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) had invited Ryanair to start the week with fresh talks, but
instead the airline is taking legal action in the High Court to challenge the legitimacy of the strike ballot.