FRANKFURT: Germany’s powerful pilots’ union said Tuesday members would strike at low-cost carrier Ryanair for better pay and conditions, although they insisted they would not disrupt flights over the Christmas holiday.
Pilots “announce a strike at Ryanair,” the Cockpit union posted on Twitter.
They aim “to force the start of talks to create employment and pay conditions for Ryanair pilots in line with the market,” the union said in a statement.
“From this moment on strike measures could happen at any time,” except during the Christmas period between December 23 and 26, the statement said.
Ryanair had a “last chance” to avoid strikes by immediately coming to the negotiating table, union president Ilja Schulz said.
Unions have long complained that no-frills Ryanair does not offer pilots pay and conditions up to standards elsewhere in the aviation industry.
German prosecutors searched offices belonging to the carrier at six airports last year, part of an investigation into possible tax evasion and withholding salaries against two British temp agencies that supply the Irish airline with self-employed pilots.
In its statement, Cockpit claimed pilots were leaving the airline “in droves” for the better conditions offered by other carriers, leaving Ryanair with a shortage of aircrew.
Italian pilots for the Irish carrier have already set dates for strike action, while Irish and Portuguese aviators have announced unspecified industrial action.
Ryanair said last week that it would “ignore” the Italian pilots’ move, saying its staff rarely heeded calls to walk out.
The airline could not immediately be reached for comment about the German strike plans.
With its more than 9,400 members in Germany, Cockpit was able to squeeze a pay, pensions and jobs deal out of mammoth carrier Lufthansa earlier this year, after repeated walkouts between 2014 and 2016 cost the group around 450 million euros ($530 million).
German pilots’ union calls strike against Ryanair
German pilots’ union calls strike against Ryanair
Saudi public investment fund assets rise 36% to$58bn in Q3
RIYADH: Assets held by public investment funds in Saudi Arabia rose 36 percent from a year earlier to about SR217.9 billion ($58.1 billion) by the end of the third quarter of 2025, driven by strong growth in domestic investments, official data showed.
Asset values also rose 5.7 percent from the previous quarter, according to data from the Capital Market Authority cited by the Saudi Press Agency.
Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange has seen strong growth in recent years, attracting increased investor interest in fixed-income instruments amid a global environment of elevated interest rates.
According to SPA, the number of subscribers to public investment funds reached 1.59 million by the end of the third quarter, representing an annual increase of 1.5 percent.
The growth in public investment fund assets was driven by a 39 percent year-on-year rise in assets of local funds, which reached SR186.9 billion in the third quarter of 2025 and accounted for 86 percent of total assets.
Meanwhile, assets of foreign funds rose to SR31.1 billion, reflecting annual growth of 21 percent.
The number of public investment funds in the Kingdom increased 11.6 percent year on year to 346, up from 310 in the third quarter of 2024.
Public investment fund assets were distributed across a range of investment types, including equities, bonds, cash instruments, real estate investments, and other assets.
Local money market funds held the largest share of assets at SR75.6 billion, followed by local equities at SR46.6 billion, real estate investment funds at SR28.9 billion, and funds invested in other local assets at SR19.6 billion.
To further strengthen the capital market ecosystem, the Kingdom announced earlier this month that it would open its financial markets to all foreign investors.
The measures introduced by the Capital Market Authority include the removal of restrictions such as the Qualified Foreign Investor framework, which required a minimum of $500 million in assets under management, as well as the abolition of swap agreements.
