Union sues Ryanair for breaking strike

Pilots union VNV is taking Ryanair to court for using so-called strike breakers to execute flights during the pilots strike on Friday. Despite a court previously banning the Irish budget airline from using other pilots during the strike, two Ryanair flights took off from Eindhoven Airport on Friday morning, NU.nl reports.

VNV believes that Ryanair used Belgian pilots to take over flights from striking Dutch pilots. The airline did this during a previous strike in August.

On Friday morning Eindhoven Airport reported that a total of 18 flights to and from the airport were canceled due to the strike. Ryanair said on Thursday that 12 flights would be canceled. A flight to London was canceled at the last moment on Friday morning. Travelers were already past customs when it was announced that their plane would not take off.

Ryanair pilots and cabin crew members are striking in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Italy on Friday. They demand better terms of employment. Ryanair had to cancel a total of 250 flights throughout Europe, affecting around 45 thousand travelers.