Ryanair expresses regret that passengers say that the striking pilots have "good jobs"

Pbadengers have little sympathy for Ryanair pilots who earn € 200,000 a year, said company marketing director Kenny Jacobs.

Nearly 2,500 customers were disrupted the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa) – part of the Fórsa union. It's their third strike at the airline this month

They are in conflict with Ryanair about basic transfers, promotions, holidays and other problems. Mr Jacobs said that three-quarters of his drivers in Ireland continued to work as usual, "putting customers first".

"I do not think that travelers in July and August have much sympathy for people who earn 150,000 euros. € 200,000 a year, five days of work and four days off – these are good jobs. "

Mr. Jacobs stated that the airline has made" great strides "in the implementation of international trade union agreements." We want to make the same progress in Ireland, "he said, but said accused Ialpa / Fórsa of not taking negotiations seriously. "Strikes do not work." "More strikes should be avoided. They are made at this time of year to try to have the maximum impact, but they do not work. "

Mr. Jacobs said that" most of what pilots are looking for "was proposed in Ryanair's proposals."

Union Requirements

But he stated that some of the union demands "would actually be bad for the Irish pilots "and rejected attempts to" copy-and-paste "the Aer Lingus pilots agreement in Ryanair." That just will not work, "he said RT E Radio One .

"Aer Lingus is an air carrier, a major airline base and we can not say that. He added:" We will find a common ground, it always happens in these cases. "

Ialpa / Fórsa has defined 11 terms that he claims that this decision must be the basis of any settlement of the dispute, which triggered Ryanair's first Irish pilot strike earlier this month.

However, Ryanair maintains that these conditions are not applicable to an airline of its size.

In response to comments, a spokesman for Fórsa said the pilots were well paid, but the dispute was not about pay levels. "This conflict is not about money, yes they [pilots] are well paid, they are highly skilled and carry a lot of responsibility," said a spokesman.

In a statement, Ryanair said the "useless" strike was due to "a small minority of Irish pilots". (25%). "

The union spokesman said that more than 110 pilots were involved in the action, representing about a third of Ryanair's Irish pilots.Fórsa represents pilots directly employed, and does not represent the pilot staff from agency, or those on independent contracts, the spokesman said.

The main problem was raising basic transfers, which is how driver transfer decisions are A Fórsa spokesman said :

Ryanair has more than 80 bases throughout Europe, and the pilots will be stationed in a given base.At present, pilots can be transferred between bases at the discretion of the company. [19659002] "We are trying to make the decisions about who you want to move to be transparent … based on seniority, so if you have two pilots and you have to move into a given base, the pl the former staff member will have the first choice whether to move or not, "said Fórsa's spokesperson