Ryanair and its pilots hit turbulent relations

LONDON (AFP) – Ryanair is coming under heavy fire from pilots uneasy with its management style and working conditions, just as complaints from passengers incensed by its mass cancellations last month start to ease off.

In a company which does not recognize any official union, pilots have been taking to social media over the last week to call for dialogue, and to share their anger at a management class they accuse of disdain.

''There's an obvious hemorrhaging of pilots,'' said one former Ryanair co-pilot who recently left for another airline and agreed to speak to AFP on the condition of anonymity.

''They leave because they're fed up with being treated like numbers,” he said, condemning ''the management's terror regime. '' '' The problem was brewing and it just took a spark to set the whole thing alight,'' he said of the thousands of cancelled flights, which the company's brash director general Michael O'Leary blamed on glitches in holiday leave planning.

Ryanair management, approached by AFP, denied these ''hearsay claims'' and pointed out that all 86 of Ryanair's air bases have elected pilot representatives, who are able to enter into negotiations without ''fear or terror.''

Internally, the exclusive reliance on employee representation committees (ERC) for dialogue is heavily questioned.

Pilots active on the Aviation Professionals Unite website say they have sent their boss a letter from 60 ERCs to ask for the creation of a pan-European body to represent all pilots.

Ryanair management has dismissed the move as an ''anonymous letter'' sent by competitor pilot unions.

Amid a global surge in demand for pilots, Europe's largest carrier advertised that its pilots will earn ''22 percent more than Jet2, 20 percent more than Norwegian'' through its suggested annual pay increase of thousands of euros.

Pilots told AFP that employees including flight attendants, ground crew and administrative staff had issues with management.

''For most pilots, the problem is not financial,'' said a Ryanair pilot earning 5,400 euros (£4,800) a month. ''It's more that the system makes us tired and demotivated.''