An appeal has gone out to former Ryanair pilots to return to the airline following the staff holiday rotas debacle which led to around 700,000 bookings being cancelled.
The budget carrier’s flight operation manager Elaine Griffin has been appealing to former staff to return to the airline for more money and better working conditions.
Ryanair last week said it had taken on 45 flight crew in one day, taking the total number of pilots hired this year to more than 860.
In an email seem by the Telegraph, Griffen said: “I hope you are keeping well since you left Ryanair. My name is Elaine Griffin and I am the a new flight ops bases manager in Ryanair.
“We are currently a team of four which is doubling to eight as part of Ryanair’s drive to significantly transform the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development.
“You may or may not be aware of the significant changes that are taking place at Ryanair,” the email continued. “We have increased Captain and FO [First Officer] pay rates by approximately 20 per cent and significantly increased resources in pilot rostering, crew control, bases management and training.
“We still have much work to do but we have already made significant changes and plan many more for 2018 (including a new annual leave system/process) as we strive to make Ryanair the employer of choice for 737 pilots in Europe.
“If you are interested in having a conversation about returning to Ryanair, we would be delighted to hear from you.”
The airline highlights the return of former head of operations Peter Bellew “to lead this transformation” as chief operations officer from December 1.
The current Malaysia Airlines chief executive said a return to Ryanair was due to “love for [the] country”.
A statement released by Malaysia Airlines said his decision to leave was “unexpected”.
A Ryanair spokesman would not reveal how many former pilots had been contacted but said “the number is small”, adding: “We are not ‘short of pilots’ – we have over 4,200 or 10.5 per aircraft – and have recruited over 860 so far this year.”
Norwegian last month said 140 Ryanair pilots had joined it so far this year.