The Irish Travel Agents Association expressed concern after Irish-based Ryanair pilots voted to take industrial action, affecting flights scheduled for next week.
Pilots served notice of a 24-hour strike next Thursday – and threatened of more to come. The strike notice comes after pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
Pat Dawson CEO of the ITAA
“We’re deeply disappointed to hear of the decision by pilots to strike next week as this will effect the peak of summer travel, causing major distress for holidaymakers. Any cancellations at this point will result in major consequences for travellers with booked accommodation and connecting travel plans completely disrupted, leading to additional costs to customers,” said ITAA CEO Pat Dawson.
“The ITAA is calling on Ryanair and its pilots to resolve these internal issues and end this proposed strike action. Passengers have already seen severe disruptions in the past number of weeks with the French Air Traffic Control strike and we hope that management will do everything possible to avoid any more interference with holiday plans. We would also ask that Ryanair keep customers up to date with any planned cancellations as soon as possible to ease the uncertainty faced by intending travellers and allow for alternative holiday arrangements to be made.”
He added: “All of our member travel agents will work to minimise the inconvenience to customers affected by this strike by keeping them up to date with cancellations as well as assisting them with rebooking flights and changing travel plans. We are advising all those planning to travel with Ryanair to contact their travel agent for further advice and to check CAR’s website www.aviationreg.ie for updates on entitlements.”
