Union urges pilots to fight

THE leader of Ireland’s largest trade union has urged Ryanair pilots to fight Michael O’Leary until they “beat” him in the war over pay and conditions.

The airline has disrupted the plans of more than 700,000 passengers by failing to have enough standby pilots to ensure the smooth operation of its schedule.

Last week, the airline’s chief operations officer, Michael Hickey, resigned.

And in an unprecedented move, Ryanair chief execu- tive, Michael O’Leary, wrote to the airline’s pilots with an impassioned plea to get them to remain at the airline.

He has promised a raft of changes including improved pay and conditions if his 4,200 pilots do not leave to join airlines such as Norwegian.

But in a move which has angered management, hundreds of pilots at the low cost carrier have continued to join unions across Europe, including the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) and the Irish Airline Pilots’