British holidaymakers may face yet more travel chaos this summer after two Italian unions called for a strike. Airline workers – including easyJet and Crewlink – went on strike from 10am to 2pm yesterday (June 8).
The Italian Federation of Transport Workers (FILT) and Italian Union of Transport Workers (UILT) claim that the strike was called over non-payment of sick leave, summer leave, pay disputes and "lack of water and meals for the crew”, reports the Sun.
If an agreement is not met, UILT has said that a number of strikes and protest actions will affect summer travel.
Air carrier easyJet has warned customers that this may disrupt their travel schedule – an unwelcome statement after thousands of flights were cancelled over half term.
Ryanair staff were not involved with the industrial action, the airline said, but services were still cancelled today due to air traffic control striking.
An easyJet spokesperson said at the time: “Due to an air traffic control strike impacting Italian airspace, as with other airlines operating to and from the region there is likely to be disruption to flights.
"Around 24 flights to and from the UK have been cancelled in advance to mitigate the impact on customers’ plans today and provide the option to rebook before travelling to the airport.
“While this is outside of our control we are sorry for the disruption the strike action will have caused for our customers. We are providing options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required with information on how to arrange this quickly online or via the app.
"Our customer service hours and hotel accommodation sourcing have been extended to support impacted customers and help get them to their destination as soon as possible. We advise customers due to travel to or from Italy today to check our Flight Tracker for real-time updates.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and cre is our highest priority.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “As zero Ryanair crew participated in today’s strikes in Italy, we have not faced any disruptions to flights to/from Italy today (8 June) as a result of cabin crew strikes.
"We have however regrettably been forced to cancel a number of flights today (8 June) due to Air Traffic Control (ATC) strikes at Milan Bergamo, Milan Malpensa, Turin, Verona, Genoa, Cuneo and Parma Airports.
"Affected customers have been notified via email/SMS; however, we advise all customers due to travel to/from Italy today (8 June) to check the status of their flight on their Ryanair app before travelling to the airport.
"These ATC strikes are completely beyond our control and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience they will inevitably cause.”
