- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
- Scientists unlock secret of 'Girl With Pearl Earring'
- Dolphins flash friendly grins when they're ready to play
- Facing backlash, EU moves to delay deforestation rules
- US private sector adds more jobs than expected in September: ADP
- Boys out of critical condition after Zurich stabbings
- Spain logs record summer tourism as inflow draws protests
- Hedi Slimane quits as Celine's artistic director
- Oil prices extend rally on Iran attack
- Spain welcomed record number of tourists this summer
- France says coming tax hikes on the wealthy to be 'temporary'
- Why are Thailand's roads so deadly?
- Oracle to invest $6.5 bn in Malaysian cloud services region
- Parkrun marks 20 years of a free weekly jog, run... or walk
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong soars again
- Prostitutes, prospectors drive spread in DR Congo mpox capital
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong resumes surge
- Extreme heat another form of death sentence in Texas jails
- Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus
- Nike earnings drop, says turnaround will take time
- US dockworkers launch mass strike a month before election
- Iron Dome: Israel's key anti-missile shield
- Cranes stand still as US dockworkers fight for 'future'
- GM reports US sales dip, but says EVs grew
- Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico's first woman president
- Webb telescope detects carbon dioxide on Pluto's largest moon
- Stock markets slump, oil jumps on Middle East concerns
- French PM vows more taxes and spending cuts ahead of budget fight
- Germany inaugurates IBM's first European quantum data centre
RBGPF | 100% | 59.99 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.04% | 24.78 | $ | |
NGG | -1.85% | 68.78 | $ | |
GSK | -2.15% | 39.45 | $ | |
BTI | -1.33% | 35.97 | $ | |
RIO | -0.48% | 70.82 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.11% | 47.29 | $ | |
BP | 0.86% | 32.37 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.04% | 24.93 | $ | |
SCS | -2.56% | 12.87 | $ | |
VOD | -2.16% | 9.74 | $ | |
JRI | -1.12% | 13.38 | $ | |
BCC | -1.33% | 139.53 | $ | |
AZN | 1.14% | 79.58 | $ | |
BCE | -1.13% | 34.44 | $ |
Ryanair, Brussels Airlines strikes disrupt Europe air travel
Strikes by staff at Ryanair and Brussels Airlines over pay and working conditions on Friday forced the cancelation of dozens of flights in Europe as the busy summer travel season gets underway.
The strikes are adding more headaches to passengers and the aviation sector, which has struggled with staff shortages as it struggle to recruit people after massive layoffs during the Covid pandemic.
Ryanair cabin crew unions in Spain, Portugal and Belgium called a three-day strike starting on Friday, and in Italy and France on Saturday.
The biggest impact was felt in Belgium, where the work stoppage led Europe's biggest budget airline to cancel 127 flights to and from Charleroi airport near Brussels between Friday and Sunday.
Ryanair could only guarantee 30-40 percent of its scheduled flights at the airport, said a spokeswoman for Brussels South Charleroi Airport.
The situation in Belgium was further complicated by a three-day strike by staff at Brussels Airlines, a unit of German airline Lufthansa, which began on Thursday.
The company has cancelled 315 flights to and from Brussels' international airport during the three-day strike.
The impact of the Ryanair strike was more limited in Portugal, where only two flights we cancelled on Friday morning, according to the SNPVAC union behind the walkout in the country.
It expects the strike to gain force later in the day.
In Spain, where Ryanair employs 1,900 people, no flights we cancelled except those heading to Belgium.
"We didn't even know there was a strike...we didn't have any problem at all," said Manuel Carrion, a Spanish passenger with a Ryanair flight at Madrid airport.
Spain's transport ministry on Thursday ordered Ryanair to operate 73 percent to 82 percent of flights over the strike period to maintain minimum services.
It argued there needs to be a balance between the "right to strike" and the "interest of travellers".
- Threats -
But unions said Ryanair had gone beyond what was required and forced staff to maintain 100 percent of flights. Unions said they would take Ryanair to court as a result.
"The company informed staff that all flights were subject to the minimum service, and threated them with disciplinary action," Ernesto Iglesias of local USO told reporters at Madrid airport.
The airline was not "respecting the law," he added.
Ryanair cabin crew unions in Spain have called another strike from June 30 to July 2.
A strike on the weekend of June 12 and 13 already prompted the cancellation of about 40 Ryanair flights in France, or about a quarter of the total.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has been dismissive of the strikes, saying earlier this month that most of the company's flights "will continue to operate even if there is a strike in Spain by some Mickey Mouse union or if the Belgian cabin crew unions want to go on strike."
- 'Pushed to the brink' -
Ryanair's low-cost rival easyJet also faces nine days of strikes on different days in July at the Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca airports.
British Airways workers at London's Heathrow airport have voted to strike over pay as the cost-of-living crisis worsens in the UK, though no dates were set yet.
The strikes come as air travel has rebounded since Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted.
But the staff shortages have forced airlines to cancel flights, with German carrier Lufthansa cancelling more than 3,000 of them during the summer holidays.
On Monday, the European Transport Workers' Federation called "on passengers not to blame the workers for the disasters in the airports, the cancelled flights, the long queues and longer time for check-ins, and lost luggage or delays caused by decades of corporate greed and a removal of decent jobs in the sector."
The Federation said it expects "the chaos the aviation sector is currently facing will only grow over the summer as workers are pushed to the brink."
Y.Tengku--CPN