Ryanair plans to recruit more than 2,000 new pilots as it takes delivery of more aircraft and attempts to recover from the pandemic.
Although most captain vacancies created by the deliveries of new Boeing 737-8200 aircraft will be filled by internal promotions of first officers, it wants to take on new cadet pilots across all of its European bases.
Training courses, which will be delivered in partnership with the Airline Flight Academy in Dublin, will begin in 2021 so that pilots will be ready for the summer 2022 holiday season.
People director Darren Hughes said: “Ryanair will recruit 2,000+ pilots over the next three years to fill positions created by this growth. This is great news for experienced and aspiring pilots but also for our own pilots who will enjoy fast tracked promotions.
“Throughout the pandemic, Ryanair has worked closely with our people to save jobs and we are delighted to start planning for a return to growth over the coming years as we recover from the Covid-19 crisis and grow to 200m guests by FY 2024.”
Recruitment and retention
Vacancies at 24-year high, but candidate supply limited
Last year, Ryanair pilots agreed to a 20% pay cut in order to limit job losses at the height of the pandemic.
Cabin crew employed by Ryanair in the UK also agreed to temporary pay reductions of 5-10% to protect their jobs.
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The budget carrier was able to reduce the number of redundancies necessary after 97% of pilots and more than 90% of cabin crew signed up to pay cuts and changes to working practices. It initially expected to make 3,000 people redundant under plans announced in May 2020.
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