The UK looks to have escaped the bulk of the effects of the Ryanair pilots’ strike, the biggest in the airline’s history.
Pilots based on continental Europe have taken action over pay and working conditions on one of the busiest days of the year, with the bulk of cancellations affecting Germany, Belgium and Sweden.
The walk out is lasting 24 hours and has caused major disruption in these countries, but has had knock-on effects where crews based on continental Europe were due to operate flights to the UK.
Stansted airport saw 14 inbound and outbound flights cancelled on Friday. Most were to Germany, but two were to Gothenburg and one to Dublin. “In the scheme of things, it’s not been too bad, there has been no effects on other parts of the first wave of flights,” said an airport spokesperson.
Manchester airport saw four flights to Germany and one to Belgium cancelled. “Ryanair has 104 flights inbound and outbound today, so it is just under 10% of our schedule,” said a spokesperson.