More strike calls cloud summer travel for European low-cost airlines

Europe's low-cost airlines face a summer of discontent as staff in Spain and France announced new strikes over labour conditions on Tuesday. Trade unions representing Ryanair cabin crew in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have called for strikes this coming weekend, while easyJet's operations in Spain face a nine-day strike next month. Damien Mourgues, a representative of the SNPNC trade union at Ryanair in France, said the airline did not respect rest-time laws. The union was also calling for a raise for cabin crew, still paid at the minimum wage. Cabin crew will walk out on Saturday and Sunday. Strike action on the weekend of June 12-13 already prompted the cancellation of about 40 Ryanair flights in France - about a quarter of the total. Ryanair's low-cost rival easyJet also faces nine days of strikes through July at the Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca airports. The union saidTuesday that Spanish easyJet cabin crew, with a base pay of 950 euros (S$1,385) per month, have the lowest wages of the airline's European bases. An easyJet spokesman said: "Should the industrial action go ahead we would expect some disruption to our flying programme... (and)... we would like to reassure customers that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption." The strikes come as air travel has rebounded since Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted. But many airlines, which laid off staff during the pandemic, are having trouble rehiring enough workers, forcing them to cancel flights. That includes easyJet, which has been particularly hard hit by employee shortages.<br/>