Pilot reveals details of ’cockpit chat’ in Ryanair defamation case

A pilot has told the High Court a lot of cockpit chat among colleagues working for Ryanair was about the job not being the one “they would like to retire in" and about "where we are going next".

Pilot reveals details of ’cockpit chat’ in Ryanair defamation case
Paolo

A pilot has told the High Court a lot of cockpit chat among colleagues working for Ryanair was about the job not being the one “they would like to retire in" and about "where we are going next".

"Most people’s view was that Ryanair was a stepping stone to something else", Captain Paolo Cova said.

Capt Cova, who worked for Ryanair for 11 years until joining Easyjet in 2016, was giving evidence in Ryanair’s action against three founders of the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG) over a 2013 email which the airline says falsely inferred the company misled investors.

Captains Evert Van Zwol, John Goss and Ted Murphy deny they defamed Ryanair.

Capt Cova worked for most of his time at Ryanair’s Milan Bergamo airport base in Italy. Pay and conditions negotiations were done at each base under under the airline’s representation system, called "employee representative councils" (ERCs), he said.

He told his counsel David Whelan he took part in some of the meetings which led up to the 2015 agreement which was first presented to pilots earlier that year by Ryanair’s director of flight operations, Peter Bellew.

Capt Cova had been concerned about a number of it provisions of the previous agreement including one which said a favourable five day-on four day-off rostering system would revert to a less favourable five day-on three-day off roster if a new agreement was not made. If that happened, it would mean that many people who spent a lot of time commuting would get to see their families less, he said.

He said the 850 hours maximum flying time limit provided for in Ryanair contracts was very close to the legal limit of 900 hours and did not include time spent preparing for take off, turnaround time and post-flight duties of reporting into the office.

When negotiations for a new agreement came up in 2015, he and others assisted the Bergamo ERC rep who dealt with management but they did not get involved in any official capacity because they first wanted to be sure the negotiations were meaningful. Captn Cova said for most of his 11 years with Ryanair he was a member of the Irish pilots union, IALPA.

He said two drafts of an agreement were produced by the company and there was very little of what pilots had asked for initially were in the final agreement. In March 2015, it was presented as "a take it or leave it" agreement and they were told the company’s budgets had been decided.

He got a look at some draft agreements for other bases in Italy and there was almost no difference between them. It was a "quite frustrating experience" and they felt powerless. "It showed us that it did not make any difference what we brought to the company".

Between 50 and 60 pilots had a right to vote in Bergamo and although 75 per cent voted in favour of the 2015 agreement he believed the vote was constrained by the fact that they were told they would go back to a less favourable roster if they did not back the agreement.

Ryanair had advised the less favourable 5-day/3-day roster was already planned in the event of a no vote, he said. A majority of the pilots at Bergamo, some 150 he estimated, had no vote at all because they were contracted rather than directly employed pilots like him.

When the Bergamo pilots asked could they discuss the new deal with pilots at other bases, they were told by Ryanair this was not possible.

Under cross examination by Thomas Hogan SC, for Ryanair, Capt Cova said he did not directly state flying safety was an issue when he wrote letters to management about the stress on Italy-based pilots like him as a result of changes in pilots’ tax status following changes in Italian law.

The tax status change issue was very stressful and since he joined Easyjet it has been removed because he was now regarded as an Italian employee.

Capt Evert Van Zwol, under continuing cross examination on Friday, denied his purpose in referring the sell off of shares by Ryanair management in June 2013 in the RPG email was to "outcast management" in the eyes of pilots.

The trial before Mr Justice Bernard Barton and a jury goes into its fourth week next Tuesday.

more courts articles

Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van
Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman
Coronation Street actor William Roache (91) given three months to settle tax debt Coronation Street actor William Roache (91) given three months to settle tax debt

More in this section

Government examining payments to carers after referendum defeat Government examining payments to carers after referendum defeat
Drug death in Cork Prison could be linked to nitazene opiate Drug death in Cork Prison could be linked to nitazene opiate
Four people hospitalised following suspected arson at West Dublin home  Four people hospitalised following suspected arson at West Dublin home 
War_map
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited