Ryanair has cancelled 190 flights ahead of a strike by cabin crew in six countries on Friday.

Cabin crew in Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Italy and Germany are set to strike amid an ongoing dispute.

Unions are calling for Ryanair employment contracts to be subject to the labour laws of the country in which the employees are working.

They are also calling for workers to be subject to the same terms and conditions – regardless of whether they are directly contracted or subcontracted.

When it was announced, unions suggested the strike would be the ‘biggest the airline has ever seen’.

Dutch pilots union VNV yesterday confirmed it would join the action, saying: "Dutch law should be applied; no more bogus self-employment and pension". 

In a statement today, Ryanair insisted the action is being taken by a 'tiny minority' of staff.

It added that it was already signed a collective labour agreement with the three main unions in Italy, with only a 'tiny union' from the country taking part in Friday's strike.

A total of 8% of the company's flights have been cancelled ahead of Friday's action, affecting 30,000 customers.

All impacted customers have been informed of the cancellations.

Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said: “We sincerely apologise to those customers affected by these unnecessary strikes on Friday, which we have done our utmost to avoid, given that we have already offered these unions recognition agreements, Collective Labour Agreements, and a move to local contracts/law in 2019.

"These repeated unnecessary strikes are damaging Ryanair’s business and our customer confidence at a time when oil prices are rising strongly, and if they continue, it is inevitable that we will have to look again at our capacity growth this winter and in summer 2019."

This week's action comes in a year that has seen Ryanair impacted by industrial action across a number of European countries.

Last month, the company reached an agreement with Dublin-based pilots, after five days of strike action arising from a dispute about issues such as seniority and base transfers.