The past year or more has seen extensive industrial strike action across Europe. This has affected many industries, and aviation is certainly one of these. There have been strikes from airline staff, airport workers, and air traffic controllers, amongst others.

As of early 2023, there seems to be little let up in strikes. The underlying issues of high inflation and rising cost of living, and seeking to protect rights and working conditions, remain.  We consider here the main impact that the strikes are having – on airlines as well as to people and across the wider industry.

DELAYS & CANCELLATIONS

The most noticeable effect of the strikes, of course, is flight delays and cancellations. In 2022 and 2023 there have been regular strikes in the UK and Western Europe in particular. These have been by airline staff, air traffic controllers, and airport workers (including security staff and baggage handling).

This is making advance flight planning and scheduling by airlines difficult. Airlines may have a bit more notice and control over strikes by their own staff, but they are also affected by airport or other strikes. Airlines are often having to cancel additional flights at the last minute to meet reduced capacity expectations.

This is regularly happening at London Heathrow, for example, with British Airways often forced by the airport to cancel a proportion of its flights.

A few specific examples from 2022 and 2023 of the impact this had on airlines:

• Over the Easter 2023 holiday period, British Airways was forced to cancel 300 flights (about 5% of its schedule) from London Heathrow due to security staff strikes.
• Strikes by airport workers in Germany in mid-March 2023 led to the grounding of all departing flights from Berlin, Bremen, Hannover, and Hamburg. The previous month, similar action had crippled Düsseldorf and Cologne airports.
• During March 2023 strikes in France, the civil aviation authority required airlines to cut their flights by 20% to 30% at many airports. Overflights were significantly affected too.
• Ryanair claims that over the first three months of 2023 it had to cancel 3,350 flights due to extensive strike action from French air traffic control. These were mostly flights planned to overfly France.

FINANCIAL LOSSES FROM STRIKES

Any operating problem like this will affect airlines’ financial position. Cancellations will cause loss of revenue, as well as additional costs to re-accommodate and potentially compensate passengers. Other costs for airlines continue despite the strikes – such as staff costs for non-striking workers even if there are no operations.

Airlines losses from the recent strikes have not been directly publicised, but looking at some previous similar events shows how impactful strikes can be. British Airways cabin crew strike action in 2010, for example, cost the airline an estimated £150 million. The wider economic impact is much higher. For example, the 2009 strike by air traffic controllers in France cost the French economy an estimated €2 billion.