Willie Walsh condemns ongoing aviation strikes as ‘irresponsible’

“These irresponsible actions resulted in thousands of unnecessary cancellations in March,” said Walsh, who has been at helm as director general of Iata for almost three years. “This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the authorities.”

Walsh is the latest in a series of aviation bosses, including Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, to criticise the ongoing industrial tensions.

Aviation workers across Europe have gone on strike several times over the past few months over jobs and salaries, creating disruption for hundreds of thousands of travellers. 

French air traffic controllers have downed tools 52 times in the past four months over president Macron’s decision to increase the pension age from 62 to 64, impacting more than 730,000 travellers.

Industrial action has also affected the likes of Italy, Spain and Portugal while UK security officers at main airports such as Heathrow walked out over pay and jobs in the run-up to Easter.