REVOLT OF THE RYANAIR PILOTS

Protest piles on misery for O’Leary and passengers

RYANAIR was last night facing a revolt by its own pilots which threatens to cause even more chaos for passengers.

Furious crew at 60 airports across Europe signed a letter condemning the behaviour of their beleaguered chief executive Michael O’Leary for showing them and their passengers ‘disrespect’ over the cancelled flights fiasco.

In the bombshell letter, the pilots warned there would be no end to the disruption unless their working conditions improve.

They said the crisis would continue unless bosses showed a ‘different management attitude and mindset than the ones that created the problems in the first place’.

The revolt came as the airline faced a fresh set of punishing and potentially expensive demands from the Civil Aviation Authority watchdog to compensate passengers.

The fiasco is now threatening to engulf Ryanair and Mr O’Leary, with passengers furious over the cancellation of more than 20,000 flights right through until March next year. More than 750,000 passengers have been affected. The chaos has been blamed on the airline ‘messing up’ its pilots’ holiday rota. This has created a shortage of pilots as too many have rushed to take holidays before a new system is introduced.

But unions have claimed the real cause of the crisis is disillusioned pilots leaving in droves. While Ryanair employees are not unionised, some pilots are said to be plotting to take unofficial action in the form of ‘mass sick days’ and working to rule.

This includes refusing to work during time off or to fill in for a sick colleague.

Last week, many were left infuriated after Mr O’Leary accused them of being ‘full of their own self importance’.

The pilots’ letter, seen by the Mail, is backed by those based at airports including Luton, Liverpool, glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Dublin and Cork. Addressed to Mr O’Leary and fellow executives, it says: ‘We were disappointed to hear the CEO … speak in a negative and disparaging way about pilots. The disrespect shown to both passengers and pilots by management has not and will not help to solve our shared problems at the moment.’

The rebellion has been orchesexit

‘Pilots are sick and tired’

trated by Ryanair’s Employee Representative Committee.

It lays out a list of demands including permanent local contracts, and similar pay and conditions to rival airlines to ‘stem the of pilots’. The pilot group said new contracts need to be negotiated by January 1, 2018 – with ‘agreed interim arrangements if negotiations are delayed’.

Announcing the cancellation of flights for another 400,000 passengers over the winter on Wednesday, Ryanair insisted there was no pilot shortage and rejected claims that many pilots are leaving.

It also insisted it has received ‘widespread support’ from its 4,200 pilots over the past weeks. Ryanair has already offered some of its pilots an £8,800 annual pay rise.

But one Ryanair captain who backed the letter told the Mail last night: ‘pilots are sick and tired of Ryanair and will continue leaving.’ Last night the Civil Aviation Authority heaped pressure on Ryanair to compensate passengers left out of pocket and re-book them on other airlines when necessary.

The watchdog has launched enforcement action against the airline for insisting that passengers have to wait for the next available Ryanair flight. It has no statutory powers against airlines itself, but can pursue them in the High Court.

In a letter to Ryanair, CAA chief executive Andrew Haines laid out the demands which could send its compensation bill spiralling. These include payouts for passengers who have already booked more expensive flights with other carriers. It also said passengers should be compensated if they incurred extra expenses such as hotels.

The regulator said the 400,000 passengers affected by the latest wave of cancellations should have the right to re-book on other airlines.

Ryanair has suspended 34 routes between November 17 and March 18. More than 20,000 flights have been cancelled.

The airline did not comment on the letter from pilots. A spokesman said: ‘We will be meeting with the CAA and will comply fully with whatever requirements they ask us to.’