Ryanair begs ex-pilots to return ... with 20% pay rise
‘Well paid for a very easy job’
RYANAIR has pleaded with pilots who have deserted the struggling airline to come back.
The budget airline has repeatedly denied that a shortage of pilots has prompted it to cancel around 700,000 flight bookings and more than 20,000 flights over this winter.
It also dismissed claims that disgruntled pilots have been leaving in droves, and said that it has been swamped by applications.
But last night it emerged that the airline is desperately trying to get former pilots to return, stressing that pay and working conditions have improved since they left.
The airline has emailed former Ryanair pilots and is also targeting pilots from other airlines including Jet2 and Norwegian on career networking sites.
In an email seen by the Daily Mail, Ryanair’s flight operation manager Elaine Griffin says: ‘I hope you are keeping well since you left Ryanair.’
She describes the ‘significant changes that are taking place at Ryanair’ – including a pay rise of around 20 per cent for pilots and first officers, as well as ‘ significantly increased resources in pilot rostering, crew control, bases management and training’.
She concludes: ‘ If you are interested in having a conversation about returning to Ryanair, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please let me know if you are open to a conversation on this, or if you have any specific queries, and I will give you a call.’
One Ryanair captain, who has worked at the airline for almost a decade, said: ‘This just shows how desperate they are to recruit pilots and stop the exodus. It’s not money that people are after, it’s a modern, up to date contract.’
The airline is also targeting pilots at rival airlines on career networking website LinkedIn.
In one message, the airline’s pilot recruiter Darren Kinsella writes: ‘With our new improved pay deals, our captains can earn 26 per cent more than Jet2 and 20 per cent more than Norwegian.’
He added: ‘ We would be delighted to hear from you and would be happy to address any questions you may have.’
The overture has angered Jet2 which has contacted all its pilots urging them to resist Ryanair’s advances.
In an email Captain Paul Dobson, Jet2’s director of flight operations, took a swipe at Ryanair’s working conditions.
He said: ‘I’m sure many of you will have seen the recent communications from Ryanair trying to entice our pilots to join.
‘The life of a Jet2.com pilot and that of a Ryanair pilot is very different.
‘We’ve always recognised that to be based in an area that you wish to live, to have career opportunities to aspire to and achieve, all supported by a lifestyle that is sustainable, is key to attracting and retaining our pilots.’
Earlier this month Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary sent an extraordinary letter to current pilots, begging them to stay and offering them better pay and working conditions than at rival airlines.
He claimed he hadn’t been referring to Ryanair pilots when he said at the company’s annual general meeting last month that pilots get ‘very well paid for doing what is a very easy job’.
The airline is struggling to rebuild its reputation after its shock announcement last month that it would cancel hundreds of thousands of flights.
It says it was forced to do that because it ‘messed up’ its holiday rota, resulting in a shortage of pilots as too many took their holiday towards the end of the year.
It has refuted claims by unions that the real reason for the cancellations was a shortage caused by an exodus of pilots to other airlines.
However, one pilot told the Mail last month: ‘It is not just normal pilots who are leaving. We are losing training captains – the guys needed to train replacement cadets and captains. They are leaving in droves.’
Last night a Ryanair spokesman said: ‘We have sent this letter to a small number of pilots. We have recruited over 860 pilots this year.’