Ryanair admits it should have treated pilots better

Europe’s biggest budget airline warns of other carriers going bust

Ryanair planes should be flying over Christmas as it takes steps to recognise unions

Ryanair is contrite about the “rostering failure” which wrecked the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. Publishing healthy half-year results, in which it made a profit of €18 (£16) for every passenger carried, the airline concedes it should have addressed pilots’ concerns sooner.

In September the airline cancelled thousands of flights because of what it described as “a perfect storm” of mismanagement.

“We could have responded sooner to a tightening market for experienced First Officers with pay increases for our experienced pilots,” the airline admitted.

Ryanair also said it need to increase “the range and choice of bases and contracts we offer our pilots”.

The airline’s main base is Stansted, where pilots have rejected an improved pay offer in a secret ballot.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, said: “I’m sorry that our people have had to listen to misinformation about Ryanair promoted by competitor pilot unions, however we have been here before, and we will be again.

“We understand that the reason they wish to denigrate Ryanair is because their airlines cannot compete with us.”

The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has launched a survey of Ryanair pilots in response to what it says is “growing dissatisfaction with the company”.

BALPA’s general secretary, Brian Strutton, said: “Ryanair is unique in the complexity of its employment structures. Many pilots who fly for Ryanair are not in fact employed by them but are agency workers, supplied through several different third-, or even fourth-party companies.

“In our survey we are also asking whether the pilots would like us to test the legality of these structures through the courts.”

Ryanair repudiated the BALPA claim, saying: "A majority of Ryanair pilots in 2017 are direct employees, a minority are contractors, just like the contractor pilots which predominate among Norwegian, Wizz, easyJet and other low-cost airlines in Europe, and the many contractors employed by hospitals, hotels, airports and media companies.”

The airline also forecast that “other financially troubled EU airlines” will follow Monarch, Alitalia and Air Berlin into bankruptcy.

Ryanair is moving more aircraft to the UK for next summer’s flying programme “to take up any slack created by Monarch’s collapse”. It also said: “We continue to grow strongly in Italy where we are poised to be the main beneficiary of the inevitable contraction in Alitalia’s short haul services.”