Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary yesterday described as "off the wall" the redundancy packages recently negotiated as part of the €36 million survival plan for Shannon airport.
The plan endorsed by unions at Shannon involves the voluntary redundancy of up to 200 workers at the airport. Those who remain are to receive a payment of €16,000 each, costing the Shannon Airport Authority €5.6 million.
Speaking on Shannon Community Radio Jet-FM's Plane Talking show, Mr O'Leary said: "I think the kind of redundancy packages that have been recently negotiated in Shannon are off the wall.
"We're paying people €150,000 to take up redundancy voluntarily and the only people paying for that are going to be passengers. We simply can't afford these kind of semi-State-type pay-offs if we are going to develop a thriving low-cost airport like Shannon that is going to be a gateway into the west of Ireland. I think we need sensible, realistic policies - and massive bloody pay-offs isn't one of them."
The executive chairman of Shannon Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan, said Shannon needed "fairly significant catch-up capital" and that the authority was negotiating with the Dublin Airport Authority to provide that.
