German pilot unions fly in for meeting with Ryanair

German pilot unions are flying into Dublin this morning for a meeting with Ryanair executives over union recognition.

The meeting comes a day after airline bosses met officials form Impact, the union representing Irish-based pilots, for the first time in Ryanair’s history.

Following the meeting, Impact spokesman Bernard Harbour said it needed more than a promise from Ryanair about union recognition, adding the union wanted a "signature on a piece of paper."

He told Newstalk Breakfast that it wanted to see “deeds and actions” that Ryanair is entering into a new era of relations between staff and management.“A piece of paper is a pretty small first step.”

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He acknowledged that it will take time to build trust between both sides, but he said that at yesterday’s talks both sides were “serious.”

Mr Harbour said that the trade union is seeking an agreement around recognition, details about how this is going to work, how negotiations can take place.

He called on Ryanair to respond swiftly to the request for a signed document as the union does not want “to be in an industrial action phase.”

Ryanair's chief people officer Eddie Wilson said after the meeting that the talks were very positive.

He added the union was seeking to fast-track talks on recognition and confirmed that the company was very happy to do this.

“We crossed the Rubicon last Friday and we have to deal with this quickly,” he stressed.

Shares in the airline were up 1.6 per cent at €15.20 this morning, recovering some of the ground lost over previous sessions as investors fretted about the cost of the airline’s move to recognise unions.