Ryanair has reached a pay agreement with its UK-based pilots.
UK pilots represented by the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) voted in favour of a post-Covid pay restoration deal, which the airline said will accelerate pay restoration and deliver pay increases, post-restoration, to 2026.
“We welcome the outcome of the ballot on post-Covid pay restoration for Ryanair’s UK pilots, which will accelerate pay restoration and deliver pay increases post-restoration to 2026,” said Ryanair’s People Director Darrell Hughes.
“While the recovery from the impact of the pandemic is still ongoing and our industry faces significant challenges, this long-term agreement delivers stability, accelerated pay restoration, future pay increases and other benefit improvements for our UK pilots.
“While 100% of our pilots across our European network are covered by 2020 Emergency Agreements, we continue to work with our pilots and their unions on new deals, similar to this one concluded with BALPA, and have successfully re-negotiated improved long-term agreements with 70% of our pilots, running until 2026 or 2027 as we prioritise pay restoration,” Mr Hughes said.
Ryanair has, so far, seen relatively minor disruption from pilot strike action in Spain, Portugal and other countries in continental Europe – although more flight cancellations are expected due to the ongoing problem of understaffed airports.
The airline claims to have in place collective labour agreements with larger trade unions across Europe, with strike threats – due to pay and working conditions – emanating from “minority unions”.
