Ryanair warns workers on 600 surplus Spanish jobs

Bloomberg

Ryanair Holdings Plc executives preparing for thousands of job cuts warned employees in Spain that the collapse of air travel had left the discount airline with more than 600 surplus pilots and cabin crew in the country.
The Irish carrier estimates it has an excess of 266 pilots and 351 cabin crew, people director Darrell Hughes said on a video conference call seen by Bloomberg News. “That doesn’t mean they’ll all have to be job losses” said Hughes, who was joined by unit Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wilson.
Other measures aimed at slashing costs include lower pay rates for new hires and additional rostering flexibility. Part-time work is one solution the company should explore with unions, Hughes said.
Two months into a grounding of its entire fleet, Europe’s largest low-cost airline is clamping down on costs and digging in for a slow recovery. Ryanair plans to restart operations from July 1 with about 40% of its usual capacity in a bid to salvage part of the summer season, though CEO Michael O’Leary has predicted a price war across a much diminished air-travel market.
The Irish carrier, grounded since late March, has said it will eliminate more than 3,000 jobs while instituting pay cuts and tapping the UK’s emergency coronavirus lending facility to bolster liquidity. The airline expects to carry half the passengers it originally targeted in the year through March 2021 after the health crisis forced airlines across the globe to halt flights.
Ryanair said that it will close the Vienna base of its Austrian Laudamotion unit and fire 300 workers. Staff in Spain, one of its largest markets and home to some of Europe’s top summer destinations, have been covered by Spain’s ERTE temporary layoff programme. Hughes said some expiring temporary contracts in Spain won’t be renewed when it ends. Unions are asking to extend it until June 30.
Ryanair also told workers the company has two weeks to decide whether to appeal a Spanish National Court ruling issued in April that ordered to reinstate around 200 employees dismissed in the Canary Islands.
If readmitted, they would add to the airline’s excess staff.
“We’ll just have an even bigger surplus to deal with,” Wilson said.
O’Leary has also deferred capital investments, suspended share buybacks and cut pay to save money.