Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AS YOU’VE PROBABLY heard, Ryanair has cancelled 50 flights a day over the next six weeks, causing problems for up to 400,000 of its passengers due to fly between now and the end of October.
The cancellations, the airline says, are due to the switch the airline is making to its calendar year: from April – March, to the normal calendar year of January – December.
At a press conference yesterday, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said that a combination of factors had created the situation where Ryanair was forced to cancel so many flights.
One of these reasons was increased holiday allocations to pilots and cabin crew (the others were weather conditions and air traffic control strikes).
“I say sorry on behalf of Ryanair. We clearly messed up in our rostering department,” O’Leary said yesterday.
But why are they making the switch in the first place?
It’s mostly centred around a regulation that limits pilots to 900 flying hours per year (or 100 hours in 28 days). This is to avoid fatigue on one day and cumulatively, says the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa).
But there was a problem – Ireland’s calendar year is different to that in Europe, meaning that if pilots moved between airlines, there was a gap in calculating their total hours worked.
Ialpa explained this in a statement:
“This could arise when a pilot who has completed 800 hours, for example, by December leaves Ryanair and commences flying in another European airline in January and accumulates another 300 hours by the end of March.
“They would now have accumulated 1,100 hours – well above the limitations having used the ‘Irish calendar year’, whereas the airline they just joined would consider that the crew member’s total time on that date would only be whatever work had been completed since 1 January.”
This problem was brought to the attention of the Irish and European authorities on a number of occasions, according to Ialpa, as it had “obvious potential health and safety implications, with possible impact on flight safety”.
So pilots rushing to book their annual leave at the end of the airline’s old calendar, and before the switch over to the new one, has partly caused the problem.
Pilot shortages
Yesterday, O’Leary denied reports that the cancellations were caused in part by Ryanair pilots moving en masse to rival airlines.
But Ialpa has cast doubt on this suggestion, saying that the timeframe of 6 weeks for cancellations suggests that staff shortages are somewhat to blame.
“This conveniently brings them to the winter schedule, with its reduced overall crewing requirement, which is further evidence of the real problem being a shortage of flight crew.”
RTÉ is reporting that Ryanair are to offer pilots compensation packages in place of their scheduled leave (although pilots would not receive the bonuses until October next year). Ialpa told TheJournal.ie that no offer had yet been made to their members.
The cancellations, which will run on until the end of October, are estimated to cost the company around €25 million in compensation and loss of profits.
The Irish Aviation Authority and Ryanair have been contacted for comment.
Have you been affected by the Ryanair cancellations? Email ryanair@thejournal.ie to share your story.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Basically it was a major fxxk up……someone took their eye off the ball if this was coming down the tracks.Also the loss of pilots to competitors must be adversely affecting the ability to operate a full schedule …. bit if a double whammy
@Frank Dubogovik: Exactly – if you look at Ryanair shares price it lost less than 2% during last few days,and it is actually going back up after smoothing statement from Ryanair boss. Nothing happen, except 400 000 passengers drama – but they are just numbers.
It’s a complete mess of their own making.Before people start spouting rubbish (I’ll NEVER fly R.A. again etc) they would do well to remember the days before RA.Ordinary working people couldn’t afford to fly all over Europe at the drop of a hat.It was £300 to fly Dub-Lon in the late 80s.Now,because of RA, people can say “fancy a beer in Budapest/Madrid?”etc. I’ll continue to use them.
@Kieran Conroy: Times have changed, people don’t need Ryanair these days. Flying to Budapest for a beer is wasteful in so many ways.
@Kieran Conroy: look up its Air Lingus-Ah yes i remember the ad now as i look
@TheBluffmaster2: as i looked up in envy and wondered who could afford those exorbitant fares.Thank you for coming along Mr O Leary.
@Kieran Conroy: Ryanair is one of many cheap airlines that popped up during last two decades. If it wasn’t them, there would be someone else.
@psychiatrist: Just a figure of speech.Ok.Fly to Budapest for a weekend of cultural happenings if this pleases you.Sorry about that.
@TheBluffmaster2: Thing is…how much in today’s money would £300 in the 80s be??Incredible.
@cortisola: All the others failed though.
@Kieran Conroy: In 1986 I paid £147 Shannon to London return. That was the cheapest fare at the time with full restrictions, i.e must stay a Saturday night, must book 1 month in advance etc. Remember Apex fares back then.
In 2017 your £300 fare to London would be adjusted €1200. A man could fly to New Zealand TODAY for that fare.
@Brendan Mason: Adjusted to €1200.
@Kieran Conroy:
easyjet are still going right?
@Liam Doyle: lot of Ryanair begrudgery out there. It was (and still is) the budget airlines fighting the nationals, led by Ryanair that forced through most of that (administrative) deregulation. But don’t let that stop anyone jumping on the bandwagon. I can’t understand why people are getting their jollies out of the troubles of a tax paying Irish company with such a large proportion of Irish workers.
@Kieran Conroy: Ah but beer is one of the oldest cultural phenomenon. Essentially one of the main reasons we became civilisations rather than nomadic tribes. The earliest writings are all about beer, including a recipe for making the stuff.
Beer culture is UNESCO recognised in Belgium for instance.
You were right the first time, beer is as much of a cultural reason to go there than anything really.
Here is a few facts about life as a Ryanair pilot,First up you pay them to get an interview and if successful you pay them another 30k to train on the aircraft.
While doing the training the cadet does not receive any pay until being released.
They also have to set them selves up as a sole trader and then invoice Ryanair/one of the agencies for the hours flown.
The pilots only start to get paid from gear up till gear down,So if there waiting on a slot or taxi delays they do not receive any payment.
Most of the new pilots could not take leave during the summer but are allocated a month off during the winter schedule.
@Dave Byrne: You’re right this seems to be more a consequence of the attitude of the airline for the pilots than a simple roster miscalculation, Mr. O’Greedy has been nasty with the staff for a long time and now is time to pay back
@Dave Byrne: If even half of that is accurate, it sounds like a hellos company to work for. Hopefully people will stop letting away woth everything just because they’re cheap.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: Believe me it’s 100 true I use to work in the industry and have know people that work for Ryanair.
losing all their pilots to rival airlines, treating employees like crap is coming back to haunt them.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: they’ve about 4000 pilots , (10 per plane )
140 isn’t exactly all.
@Fluich Go Craicean: Is it like industry standard to have 10 pilots per plane ?
@cortisola: it’s Ryanair’s , pilots can only fly an average 17 hours a week, their planes do slot more than that and there’s two pilots flying at a time
@Fluich Go Craicean: now that’s a cracker, you are allowed to speculate they have “about 4000 pilots” but everyone else much have the exact facts. Ok they lost 140 pilots last year , speculation is that’ why they have to cancel flights.
I met a couple yesterday who were delayed for 36 hours and their son was in a wheelchair.And guess what?It was Are Lingus and they treated them very badly.So it’s not just Ryanair that messes passengers around.
None of them are any good.And by the way that was from Lanzarote.
@gerry fallon: caused by French air traffic controllers
Time to buy shares, just saying.
@psychiatrist: it’s had almost no effect on shares
@psychiatrist: I’d rather invest ethically, and not profit from treating staff and customers like excrement, thanks all the same.
Losing there pilots has had a huge effect no doubt
@willypearson: 140 represents 3.5% which is probably a natural churn rate for any company
@Fluich Go Craicean:
140 pilots to Norwegian Air represents 3.5% of all Ryanair pilots.
How many have they lost to other airliines?
Is it safe to fly with Ryanair?
When the pilots and cabin crew are abandoning the airline in such numbers I guess the airline mechanics are also jumping ship.
I hope they are not mistreating the mechanics. A negligent mechanic or insufficient safety checks means that a Ryanair plane is far more likely to crash.
@Colin Morris: they are wild accusations to throw out , Ryanair have an great safety record. You’ve clearly an axe to grind
Je suis Ryanair
The biggest concern is not the fact that flights are being cancelled due to pilots abandoning Ryanair in their hundreds because of Ryanair’s appalling treatment of its staff; it’s more to do with whether Ryanair is negligent with safety checks on its planes because airline mechanics are also abandoning the terrible airline.
Are Ryanair planes safe to fly in.
I don’t trust Michael O’Leary’s answer.
@Colin Morris: “Are Ryanair planes safe to fly in.”
Yes, I know a Ryanair mechanic, he still works for them and loves it.
Do ILAPA have a mandate to represent Ryanair’s pilots?
We need a “secret pilot” to spill the beans on all the goings-on
I love the quotes from O’Greedy…”Its not a shortage of pilots” “Its a shortage of pilots during Sept./Oct.” “When we mess up, we hold our hands up and apologise”
Khmer Rouge did the same thing..that went well
Flew back into Dublin with them last week from Barcelona.
Lunatic pilot came in at some crazy speed then walloped the aircraft off the run way on landing. Worst landing ever !
You could literally feel the tension from the cockpit on the way off the plane
Cannot stand RA
@Christopher Treacy: and I was going to add that at least he made sure the landing gear was locked… one good reason for a hard and not a soft landing I think – or was that the old days…. I love the people who say “cannot stand RA” and then fly with them – is it because of price or are RA the only people offering a flight on that route… time for me to stop
This is the start of the end of this shit airline.
have your say