Ryanair offers cheaper training to pilots after staffing troubles

Ryanair has cut the price of a course for new pilots to fly its 737 planes, the airline's operations chief said Wednesday, as it tries to avoid more staffing problems. Ryanair was forced to cancel thousands of flights last year as it did not have enough standby pilots to ensure the smooth running of its schedule. While Ryanair has denied there was a pilot shortage, COO Peter Bellew said the move would help Ryanair grow without fresh problems. "What we're going to do now for the next couple of years is we're going to get ahead of the game," he said, adding that even if Ryanair chose to expand a bit quicker than planned, "we're not going to have any limiting resource around pilots." Pilots wishing to join Ryanair will have to pay E5,000 for their so-called type rating course to fly the 737, down from E29,500. <br/>