Pilot strikes will not affect UK flights, Ryanair tells customers

Ryanair has told its customers that all of its UK flights will take off as scheduled next week, despite the 3-day strike called by the pilots’ union Balpa. The airline said more than 95% of UK pilots had confirmed that they would work their rosters during the industrial action, due to take place Monday to Wednesday, Sept 2-4. A 2-day strike in August by Balpa pilots, which Ryanair had unsuccessfully sought to prevent with a high court injunction, failed to stop any of the 892 daily flights from operating, according to the airline. Although Balpa has refused to confirm pilot numbers, Ryanair has claimed that fewer than 30% of its 1,250 UK pilots voted for industrial action. Ryanair said that it had invited Balpa to meet to resume negotiations, but the union had refused. <br/>