Ryanair is bracing for its biggest-ever 1-day strike Friday with pilots based in 5 European countries set to walk out, forcing the cancellation of about 1 in 6 of its daily flights at the height of the holiday season. Ryanair, which averted widespread strikes before Christmas by agreeing to recognise unions for the first time in its 30-year history, has been unable to quell rising protests since over slow progress in negotiating collective labour agreements. In response to unions serving Ryanair strike notices, the carrier has announced in recent days the cancellations of 250 flights in and out Germany, 104 to and from Belgium and another 42 in Sweden and its home market of Ireland, where around a quarter of its pilots were staging their fifth 24-hour walkout. <br/>
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Ryanair is facing legal claims from unions for allegedly violating labour laws during a row with striking workers, as the airline faces a new round of industrial action. Ryanair responded to strikes in Ireland by issuing redundancy notices to 300 staff in Dublin last month and shifting some planes from Ireland to Poland. Soon afterwards, CE Michael O’Leary said: “If we have people who just want to have strikes for the sake of having strikes then they can have strikes and they’ll find themselves [with] jobs getting moved and aircraft getting moved.” Unions have alleged Ryanair is using other tactics to deter workers from striking. While most EU countries allow companies to dock pay from striking staff, union sources said Ryanair threatened to strip crew of productivity bonuses and warned that their promotion chances would be affected. <br/>
Pilots in the Netherlands who work for Ryanair have been given the green light to strike Friday by a court in Haarlem. Ryanair went to court in an effort to have Friday’s strike ruled illegal, saying it would have a major impact if it went ahead. The court ruled that this was not the case, but did say the next time pilots strike, passengers should be told further ahead of time. Dutch Ryanair pilots only made the announcement Wednesday at 6pm. In a reaction, Ryanair said that no flights to and from the Netherlands would be cancelled due to the strike because ‘Ryanair’s pilots have decided to work Friday Aug 10 to prevent disruption to our customers travelling on their summer holidays.’ The Dutch pilots association VNV said earlier that foreign pilots had been found to replace striking Dutch colleagues on 10 of the 22 flights which would be affected. <br/>
With Ryanair saying it won’t pay compensation for its latest round of cancellations, passengers will have to take their claims to Aviation ADR, the airline’s dispute resolution handler. Yet research shows most passengers will have a long wait to get their money. Aviation ADR received over 3,600 EU261 complaints about Ryanair in 2017, but just 496 passengers were awarded compensation. The vast majority of complaints were still outstanding at the end of year, suggesting many passengers were waiting for months. For Q1 of 2018 the figures are even worse. Aviation ADR received over 2,400 flight delay and cancellation complaints about Ryanair. In the same period just 282 passengers were awarded compensation and 98 were told they were entitled to nothing, meaning thousands were still waiting for a decision. <br/>
TUI has highlighted the cost of disruption to its airline operations from air traffic control strikes this summer as well as greater competition on routes to Spain, after operating profit dipped 7.5% to E293m (US$340m) in its Q3 ended June 30. Revenue rose 5% to exceed E5b. The company says airline disruption cost it E13m, primarily as a result of French ATC strikes, and that it is conducting a "detailed operational review" of its resilience to such action. It describes the French market as being "very challenging", with "very strong" price competition, particularly on Spanish flights, "which has benefited our non-integrated competitors". Within its central region TUI has been seeing increased demand for travel to Turkey, North Africa and Greece. but this is partly offset by lower bookings for some the group's "specialist brands". <br/>
Mesa Air Group, a regional carrier for American and United, raised US$116m in a downsized US IPO 7 years after exiting bankruptcy. Mesa Air sold 9.63m shares for $12 each after marketing them for $14 to $16. The carrier planned earlier to sell 10.7m shares. It’s Mesa’s second run as a publicly traded company. It first went public in 1987 but after filing for reorganisation in 2010, it emerged from bankruptcy the following year as a private company. Mesa’s owners include American Airlines, which now holds a 20% stake. Operating as American Eagle and United Express, it has flights to 110 cities in the US, Mexico, Canada, Cuba and the Bahamas. Mesa had operating revenue of $332m for the 6 months ended March 31, compared with $319m a year earlier. <br/>
Air Arabia reported Thursday a 24% decline in its net profit for Q2 of 2018 driven by lower margins and higher fuel costs. The carrier recorded Dh120m in profits in the quarter compared to Dh158.5m in the same quarter of 2017. The earnings put profits in the first half of this year at Dh230m, down 12% year-on-year. The carrier said the earnings came amid “economic pressure that airlines witnessed in Q2 of this year, which was driven by lower yield margins, higher fuel prices, and seasonality shift in traffic that the market has experienced.” The decline in profits came even as revenues inched up, with revenues for Q2 up nearly 4% year-on-year to reach Dh938m. Revenues for the first 6 months of this year reached Dh1.8b, a 5.8% increase over the same period last year. <br/>