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| Photo Ryanair |
The European low-cost high-fee carrier Ryanair has lost a huge High-Court battle in Spain over the dismissal of 224 staff, it was confirmed on Friday.
The budget airline had sacked the staff who worked on the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife, as well as some from Girona. The airline claimed it was closing the bases because of aircraft delivery delays following the grounding of the unsafe Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. However, numerous sources close to the situation have indicated that this was only part of the reason, as the airline has dozens of stored other models of 737. The sources say the other reasons for the closures main reason was a relation for earlier industrial action by Spanish employees and a less than harmonious relationship the carrier has had with the Spanish authorities in recent times.
On Friday the High Court in Spain ruled that the reasons given for the base closures did not justify the actions and it ordered the airline to immediately reinstate the 224 workers and pay them their missing wages from the date they were dismissed back in January of this year.
The USO union welcomed the news, general secretary Gustavo Silva told the media that now he homes that Ryanair knows "they have to comply with the law and begin to change their attitude."
Ryanair has said they will appeal the decision and have so far refused to make any further payments to the dismissed staff.
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