Ryanair in plea to pilots as families face strike chaos.

Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A strike on Thursday by almost 100 Ryanair staff pilots based in Ireland "looks inevitable", according to trade union Fórsa. There was no contact between the two sides over the weekend.

But Ryanair still doesn't know which flights it will have to cancel during the 24-hour strike. The airline operates dozens of flights in and out of Dublin alone on a typical summer's day, carrying thousands of passengers.

Ryanair has scrambled to find replacements for the pilots who will be striking this week.

It has urged cockpit crew who are not striking and who are not rostered to work that day to volunteer for duty.

"In order to minimise disruptions to our Irish customers, we need to plan what services we can operate next Thursday," it told pilots in a circular.

By John Mulligan.

Full story at Independent.