Most Ryanair pilots accept increased pay offer

Ryanair pilots have mostly agreed to accept pay increases from the budget airline of up to 20%, which will be put in place for January's payroll.

In December the Irish carrier agreed to recognise pilot unions for the first time in its history, which shocked the market and saw the shares lose around a quarter of their value between mid-August and mid-December.

Analysts have speculated on what this may mean for Ryanair's cost base and business model, with Deusche Bank calculating that pilot unionisation could add €150m of costs via changes to pay, productivity, benefits and social security, which would knock 9.4% from annual net profit forecasts.

After pilots at 'London' Stansted previously rejected a pay offer, Ryanair said on Thursday that all 15 of its UK pilot bases including Stansted had voted in secret ballot to accept pay increases of up to 20%.

The company said it was still in discussions with BALPA, the UK pilot union, but had agreed to process these pay increases while that process continues. Ryanair and BALPA agreed to offer the pay increases to the six out of 15 UK bases that had not previously accepted them.

Ryanair is also still negotiating with the FORSA Irish union and its Ryanair Irish Pilots Council, "but these discussions are progressing slowly".