Ryanair offers pilots bonuses in bid to avoid more cancellations

Ryanair has offered senior pilots who agree to work an additional 10 days a bonus of up to E12,000 in a bid to avoid additional passenger disruption after it canceled more than 2,000 flights over staffing issues. The Irish airline has been widely criticized by politicians and consumer groups since announcing on Friday plans to cancel between 40 and 50 flights per day in the weeks to Oct. 31. CE Michael O‘Leary said the cancellations were caused by a transition to a new system of allocating leave to pilots, but he denied suggestions from a pilot group that it has a deeper problem in hiring and retaining pilots. Ryanair Monday said it was preparing for up to E20m in compensation claims and E5m in lost fares as a result of the cancellations, although analysts estimated the total cost could be higher. It has also brought a wave of bad publicity for an airline which has worked hard over the past few years to improve a reputation for treating passengers badly.<br/>