Ryanair faces biggest ever strike as pilot talks end

Ryanair is braced for its biggest ever strike Thursday after talks with pilots in its Irish home market broke down. Negotiations were adjourned Wednesday with “very little progress to report,” Forsa union spokesman Niall Shanahan said, adding that the walkout is set to go ahead. Ryanair cockpit crews plan to strike for 24 hours from 1 a.m. Dublin time, with as many as 30 flights due to be cancelled by the discount airline. It’s only the second action taken by employees of the airline, which is locked in a series of wrangles after agreeing in December to recognise trade unions. “At the outset today management made it clear to our delegation that they expected the strike to go ahead tomorrow,” Shanahan said. “That position didn’t change.” Talks got no further than a discussion of seniority issues and the possibility of establishing a working group, he said. As many as 120 Ryanair pilots were balloted on industrial action, the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association said Wednesday, though it’s not clear how many are rostered for duty during the strike and what proportion of those will walk out. Ryanair said Tuesday it would scrap as many as 30 of its 290 flights at Irish airports during the action, all of them on routes to the UK.<br/>