Ryanair pilots’ strike ballot results expected this week

Holidaymakers will learn this week if they face possible disruption when the results of two separate Ryanair pilots' strike ballots become known.

Directly employed members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa)– part of trade union Fórsa – and its British equivalent at Ryanair are separately balloting on industrial action up to and including strikes in disputes over pay.

The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) will complete its ballot and announce the result today, Wednesday August 7th, while the Irish vote will finish on Friday, when the outcome will also be known.

If the members of both unions vote in favour of industrial action, there is likely to be some time before either group strikes or takes other steps.

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Ialpa will have to inform Ryanair at least seven days before it takes any such action while Balpa must also allow a formal notice period.

The two unions submitted separate play claims at different times to Ryanair. Last month, both said that they were dissatisfied with the airline’s response and began balloting members.

Cuts

Ryanair has not commented on the votes. Last year, the company said that it increased pilots’ pay by 20 per cent.

The company last week warned that it could have to cut up to 900 pilot and cabin crew jobs in the face of delayed aircraft deliveries, which are hitting growth plans, falling fares and rising costs.

Meanwhile, Ryanair said that the number of passengers it carried in July grew 9 per cent on the same month last year to 14.8 million.

That brings the current rolling annual total to 148.2 million, a 10 per cent rise on last year’s figure of 134.4 million.

The July figures include 14.2 million passengers at Ryanair, which was a rise of 8 per cent, and 600,000 at its Austrian subsidiary, Lauda, which was a 20 per cent increase for the carrier.

Load factor – a measure of how full the aircraft are – for the mainline service was 97 per cent, with Austrian subsidiary Lauda at 96 per cent. The airline operated a total of 81,000 flights during July.