A thousand flights departing from and arriving at Italian airports were canceled on Saturday due to a strike by ground staff demanding the renewal of their collective agreement.
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In Belgium, a total of 120 flights departing and arriving at Charleroi airport were canceled on Saturday and Sunday due to a strike by Ryanair pilots over their working conditions.
In Italy, about 250,000 domestic and international travelers will be affected by the disruption to handling and check-in agencies, planned between 10:00 a.m. (08:00 GMT) and 18:00 p.m. at the call of a union.
They are demanding the signing of a new collective agreement that expired six years ago.
Around 200 flights were canceled at Fiumicino-Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome, including destinations in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Barcelona or Palma de Mallorca as well as Palermo or Catania in Sicily.
The companies that have been particularly affected are Malta Air, which operates routes on behalf of Ryanair, Ita Airways (formerly Alitalia) and Vueling, whose pilots have decided to join the movement.
Almost 150 flights were canceled at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports, around 30 in Turin-Caselle and just as many in Palermo.
Transport Minister Matteo Salvini appealed to the strikers for “common sense” not to prolong their movement and “harm millions of other workers and tourists”.
In Belgium, around 10,000 passengers scheduled to take off and land in Charleroi were affected by the social movement this weekend, the airport management told the AFP news agency.
Ryanair pilots based in the country have criticized the company for not wanting to abide by a collective bargaining agreement that provided rest days in exchange for pay cuts granted in 2020 at the time of the Covid-19 crisis.
The pilots’ unions accuse the Irish company of not respecting Belgian legislation and thriving on “social dumping” which leads to unfair competition with other companies.