RYANAIR is charging pilots at Buzz £50 for the privilege of reapplying for their own jobs. The no-frills airline bought Buzz, a rival budget operator, from KLM in February, 2003. Although Buzz is a wholly owned Ryanair subsidiary, it has continued to fly as a separate British airline with its own UK operating licence.
Its pilots were invited to apply online to Ryanair and were told they would have to pay the usual £50 online application fee. The fee was introduced to deter unqualified applicants. Successful applicants have their fee refunded when they start work.
Buzz pilots who have applied online were interviewed earlier this month and successful candidates may be offered a job elsewhere in the Ryanair empire.
Those that refuse to reapply are likely to be made redundant.
Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, told Buzz staff last year that he would shut down the carrier unless they accepted mass dismissals. Mr O’Leary is also in dispute with the pilots’ union, Balpa, which has accused Ryanair of breaking regulations covering the transfer of staff by rewriting Buzz pilots’ holiday entitlements.
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A group of 140 check-in staff and aircraft dispatchers who were sacked when Ryanair bought Buzz have reached an out-of-court settlement and won compensation after a year-long battle over wrongful dismissal.
Ryanair has already drawn criticism from aviation workers by asking cabin crew to pay for their uniforms.