Ryanair has made further headway in efforts to prevent further strike action through an initial deal with German pilots.
The Irish no-frills carrier today revealed that a “framework agreement” had been signed with the German pilots’ union VC.
This covers a four-year deal including pay, pension and pilot allowances and a second agreement covering benefits including seniority, annual leave and base transfer systems.
The airline added that detailed documents are to be concluded by February 28.
“These signed agreements deliver basic pay increases, Ryanair’s industry leading ‘five on four off’ roster, and apply German labour law for all Ryanair’s German based pilots,” the airline said.
Ryanair was forced to cancel hundreds of flights to and from Germany in August and September due to a series of walkouts by pilots and cabin crew in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The airline also suffered industrial action across the summer in Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Holland and has been seeking deals with unions throughout Europe.
Detials of the latest agreement came as Ryanair reported that traffic grew by 11% to 10.4 million passengers in November.
The airline saw growth of 8% year-on-year to 10.1 million passengers while Austrian offshoot Laudamotion flew 300,000 people.
Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “We operated over 56,000 scheduled flights in November with over 88% of flights arriving on time, as Ryanair continues to deliver the lowest fares, with the best punctuality of any major EU airline.”
Wizz Air passenger numbers jumped by more than 11% last month as fleet expansion continued.
The Budapest-based eastern and central European budget carrier carried 2.4 million passengers in November over the same month last year.
The load factor improved by 2.9 percentage points to 91.2%.
November’s performance gave the airline a rolling total of 33.4 million passengers, up 19.7% on the previous 12 months.
Wizz Air received a new Airbus A321 in the month to take its fleet up to 105 aircraft.
A €30 million state-of-the-art pilot and cabin crew training centre in Budapest was also opened with two full motion simulators. The facility can train up to 300 crew members on a daily basis.
Karkow is to become the carrier’s 26th base from next summer with two aircraft operating 12 new routes to nine countries.