Ryanair agrees to recognise pilots' unions to stave off pre-christmas strike

By Ed Carty

Ryanair has agreed to recognise pilots' unions in a bid to stave off a potentially-crippling strike in the days before Christmas, the airline said.

But the offer from the boss of the low-cost carrier, Michael O'Leary, calls for staff representative bodies in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal to set up special committees to deal with issues related to the airline.

Ryanair said it was changing its longstanding policy of not recognising unions to avoid the threat of disruption to customers.

One day of industrial action had been planned for Wednesday December 20 and would have mostly involved captains.

Mr O'Leary said the pilots should call off the threat.

"Christmas flights are very important to our customers and we wish to remove any worry or concern that they may be disrupted by pilot industrial action next week," he said.

"If the best way to achieve this is to talk to our pilots through a recognised union process, then we are prepared to do so, and we have written today to these unions inviting them to talks to recognise them and calling on them to cancel the threatened industrial action planned for Christmas week."