FILE PHOTO: A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 plane lands at the airport, during a protest on the second and last day of a cabin crew strike held in several European countries, in Valencia, Spain July 26, 2018 REUTERS/Heino Kalis/File Photo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch court on Thursday rejected a case from Ryanair RYA.I seeking to block pilots in the Netherlands from joining a wider European strike scheduled for Friday at the airline to protest slow progress in negotiating a collective labor agreement.

The Dutch Airline Pilots Association has said at least 11 flights stand to be affected by the strike in the Netherlands.

The Haarlem court rejected arguments by Ryanair that the pilots had waited too long to announce their participation, giving the Irish airline insufficient time to prepare and little choice but to cancel flights.