Ryanair cancels 60 flights due to Portuguese strike

Ryanair has cancelled 60 flights ahead of a 24-hour strike by Portuguese air-traffic controllers which will close all Portuguese airspace on Wednesday.

The cancellations hit those wishing to travel on Cork-Faro and Dublin-Faro return flights on Wednesday.

The airline also called for the EU Commission to remove the right to strike from essential services such as Europe’s air traffic control.

So far in 2010, Ryanair has had to cancel more than 2,000 flights and delay more than 12,000 other flights, disrupting more than 2.5m passengers, as a direct result of Belgian, French, Spanish and now Portuguese air-traffic control strikes and work-to-rule protests.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: "We once again call on the EU to remove the ‘right to strike’ for (air-traffic controllers) as it is for other essential services like the police and fire services.

"Striking controllers don’t care about consumers, they don’t care about passengers and they repeatedly strike because they know they can shut down Europe’s skies and hold EU Governments and passengers to ransom."