UNIONS hit out today after Ryanair sacked six cabin crew members after a photograph of them sleeping on the floor of a Spanish airport office went viral last month.

The budget airline claimed that the image was staged and dismissed the staff for gross misconduct.

Ryanair claimed that no cabin crew slept on the floor after more than 20 staff were stuck at Malaga airport when flights to Porto were cancelled on October 14.

“The crew spent a short period of time in the crew room before being moved to a VIP lounge and returned to Porto the next day,” a Ryanair spokesperson said.

The airline sacked the staff, saying the protest photograph amounted to “behaviour which damaged their employer’s reputation and caused an irreparable breach of trust with these six persons.”

However, Luciano Passo, general secretary of the Portuguese SNPVAC cabin crew union, branded the decision “awful” and warned they would be responding.

“Ryanair thinks it was harmed by the publication of that photograph when it was no more than a show of the crew members’ justified feeling of indignation,” he said.

“The union’s legal team are now dealing with the matter.”