RYANAIR PILOTS HAVE accepted a 20% pay cut which will be restored over a four-year period, the airline has said.

The four-year agreement includes a 20% pay cut, productivity improvements on rosters, flexible working patterns and annual leave. 

Ryanair said these measures will “minimise Irish pilot job losses”. Ryanair pilots in the UK accepted a similar deal earlier this week. 

The airline also said Fórsa trade union has signed agreements for cabin crew for pay cuts of up to 10%, also restored over four years, along with productivity improvements.

These measures are currently being voted on by Fórsa members.  

Meanwhile, Ryanair said it has made “rapid progress” in processing customer refunds for flights cancelled between March and June. 

Extra refund staff have been trained since 1 June to cut down the backlog of customer refunds, the airline said. 

All cash refund requests from March are cleared and half of the April cash refunds are cleared. The balance of these are set to be cleared by 15 July. 

By the end of this month, all cash refunds from May and most from June will have been processed. 

These figures include passengers who have accepted travel vouchers and/or flight switches in July, August or September this year. 

Staff agreement

The CEO of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson, said the acceptance of staff measures like pay cuts “demonstrated the commitment” from pilots to continue employment in the company as it works its way “through this crisis over the next number of years”. 

The airline added in a statement: “This agreement gives Ryanair a framework to flex its operation during the Covid-19 crisis and a pathway to recovery when the business returns to normal in the years ahead.”

On Wednesday, CEO Eddie Wilson said that people are “not going to lose their heads” while on holiday, as the airline ramped up its summer flight schedule.

More than 1,000 flights per day will be operated by Ryanair, which has run a skeleton schedule since mid-March due to the pandemic.

It has restored almost 90% of its route network but frequencies will be lower than normal, with just 40% of its normal July capacity.