Poland plans drastic cut to Warsaw flights in traffic controller row

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland could significantly cut back again on flights to and from Warsaw from May 1 if a dispute with air site visitors controllers about shell out and problems is not settled, according to legislation published right before negotiations have been established to resume on Tuesday.

Almost 90 percent of air site visitors controllers in Warsaw chose to give up alternatively than settle for new performing restrictions, which they say threaten safety. Some have currently still left and the notice period for the remaining 136 ends on April 30.

This will depart Warsaw’s two major airports with only 26 controllers involving them and probably lead to mass cancellations of flights to and from Warsaw, but authorities explained flights passing by its airspace must not be cancelled.

“50 percent of these flights will be built in our airspace, 50 % of these flights… will be redirected to neighboring international locations, but flights in excess of Poland will not be cancelled,” Civil Aviation Authority head Piotr Samson informed journalists.

The govt declared late on Monday in the formal gazette that from Could 1, the Chopin and Modlin global airports would only be operational from 0930 to 1700 nearby time due to a absence of air targeted traffic controllers. The laws gave a checklist of flight places that would be prioritised.

Airlines influenced would involve Large amount Polish Airways, Wizz Air and Lufthansa, which all function out of Chopin airport, and Ryanair, which flies out of Modlin.

RYANAIR ANGER

Ryanair claimed on Tuesday it had complained to the European Commission about the legislation because it thinks the list of prioritised destinations unfairly favours Ton.

“The Polish authorities has initially mismanaged the pay dispute with Warsaw air traffic controllers and has now demonstrated total disregard for Ryanair travellers, deciding on to shield non-crucial Ton routes… at the expenditure of key Ryanair routes these types of as Stockholm and Milan,” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary claimed.

Among proposals viewed as unacceptable by the union are a slice in air website traffic controllers’ pay out, an enhance from 8 to 12 in the optimum range of hrs they can do the job in a shift and the chance for controllers to operate on your own.

Tale proceeds

The governing administration states it has recognized the proposals on security and that talks are now focussing on wage problems, but that the controllers’ anticipations are also superior, specifically specified decreases in air website traffic owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The air traffic controllers’ union says its safety worries have not been sufficiently addressed and that the government is misrepresenting how significantly they receive.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz, Supplemental reporting by Anna Koper, Modifying by Raissa Kasolowsky and Gareth Jones)