Ryanair pilots go on strike in Germany after disastrous meeting with airline bosses

RYANAIR failed to avert its first-ever pilots' strike today as pilots in Germany held a four-hour walkout following failed union negotiations.

But bosses at the low-cost airline said that there had been little impact on flights.

Ryanair had sought to avert a series of threatened strikes across Europe over Christmas by giving up its long-held opposition to recognising unions.

That convinced pilots in Ireland, Italy and Portugal to call off planned strikes.

However, Germany's Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union staged a brief walkout, saying it did not believe Ryanair was serious about negotiating with unions.

Union spokesman Markus Wahl said that there wouldn't be any more strikes until after December 26 - he added: "This was a warning shot and we started small. However, there is potential for much more."

The strike ran from 4.01am to 07.59am when only 16 flights were scheduled.

Ryanair, which had urged pilots to work to get passengers home for Christmas, said nine of its 36 early flights from Germany were delayed but there were no cancellations and that they expected to operate all of their flights today.

They added: "We are grateful to all of our Ryanair pilots for putting our customers first and largely ignoring this VC strike.

"We apologise sincerely to our customers for any inconvenience suffered as a result of this unjustified and unnecessary strike by a small number of pilots organised by the Lufthansa (VC) pilots union.”

Ryanair shares were down 0.6 percent at 09.41am.

The VC union called the strike after their first meeting with Ryanair, as they didn't believe the airline genuinely wanted to recognise unions.

It said it wanted to send a message that their pilots were serious about industrial action.

VC said Ryanair had refused to accept two members of a delegation that the union nominated to hold talks with management.

One of the pilots was a contractor and one a direct employee, but Ryanair has ended both of their contracts, VC said.

VC President Ilja Schulz told reporters yesterday: "This has shown us that nothing has changed with Ryanair's management style or how it handles workers' rights."

Ryanair pilots mobilised in September after the carrier announced the cancellation of around 20,000 flights, which it blamed on a rostering problem sparked by a change in Irish regulations.

Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told Reuters this week that his offer of union recognition was genuine but that employees must understand it will remain a low cost airline.