At a time when Ryanair is facing yet another cabin crew strike on Friday which has already led to the cancellation of around 150 flights around Europe, the CEO of national airport authority ANA said on Wednesday in Parliament that the Irish low-cost airline “has every right to leave Portugal” if it so desires, as it already has in other countries.
The statement came during a hearing with the Commission of Economy, Innovation and Public Works before the one-day strike by pilots and cabin crew in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Around 24,000 passengers are expected to be directly affected by the strike, and an additional 7,000 have been advised to consider rebooking as there may be ‘disruption’.
As The Telegraph UK points out, “although pay is a factor, the majority of unions seem to be lobbying most strongly for a transition from workers being employed on Irish contracts and subject to Irish legislation to their own countries’ labour laws”.
This means Ryanair could be contemplating pulling out of some countries, and Portugal is on the list. If they decide to, there’s not much than can be done to stop them.
“Ryanair could say that it does not find the operational and economic conditions sufficient to fulfil its objectives and can stop its operations,” said ANA CEO Thierry Ligonnière.
If Ryanair pulled out midway through a contract, it would have to buy out the remaining contract period but “there is no contractual obligation for the airline to stay, so Ryanair can say at any moment that it is leaving”.
Ligonnière also revealed that Ryanair only receives around €22 million a year as part of the same public funding programme that all airlines have access to in Portugal.
