Ryanair has warned of an Easter getaway crisis after the budget airline’s chief refused to give in to pilots’ ‘laughable’ demands.
Michael O’Leary said he was prepared to face down a strike from the pilots, who want better pay and working conditions.
However, while the airline boss has slammed their requests, unions have claimed members simply want the same treatment enjoyed by colleagues at easyJet and Norwegian Air.
Michael O’Leary said he was prepared to face down a strike from the pilots, who want better pay and working conditions
There have also been complaints of a toxic atmosphere at Ryanair with poor relations between management and staff, reports the Sun.
The Irish-based carrier avoided the Christmas strikes by recognising unions for the first time in its 32-year history, but relationships have taken a down-turn since.
Ryanair met with unions in Ireland, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and France, and union recognition will be extended to cabin crew later this year.
Mr O’Leary said: ‘We have some jurisdictions where we are getting … laughable demands.’
He added: ‘Frankly we will never agree to those … if we have to take strikes or disruptions in those jurisdictions, then we will take those.’
Last winter a pilot shortage forced Ryanair to cancel around 700,000 flight bookings and more than 20,000 flights.
The Irish-based carrier avoided the Christmas strikes by recognising unions for the first time in its 32-year history, but relationships have taken a down-turn since
However, speaking in October, the airline dismissed claims disgruntled pilots have been leaving in droves, and said that it has been swamped by applications.
But it later emerged the carrier had emailed its former pilots asking them to come back and targeted pilots from other airlines including Jet2 and Norwegian on career networking sites.
Despite the battle with crew, Ryanair booked a 12 per cent increase in net profit to £93.5million in the three months to December 31.
Revenues also rose 4 per cent to 1.4billionn while passenger numbers rose 6 per cent to 30.4million during a period in which Ryanair was forced to cancel flights after mismanaging pilots’ annual leave.
Ryanair has since pledged to increase pilot pay by 20 per cent and beef up its cabin crews.