Dutch layoff: Budget carrier Ryanair fires all staff in Netherlands

Relocation: Ryanair staff face mass layoffs at Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands. Photo / Nicolas Economou, Getty Images

Budget airline Ryanair has sacked all pilots and cabin crew based in the Netherlands who were not willing to relocate out of the country.

The Irish airline filed for a collective firing of its Netherlands-based staff through the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), the government authority that handles unemployment benefits in the Netherlands.

With staff offered relocation to bases as far away as Morocco and Belarus, for many this was not an option.

Citing "bad economic results" for its operations out of Eindhoven being closing last month, the airline also blamed these results for the subsequent layoff of staff.

Unions for pilots and crew have already said they would appeal the mass layoff.

Chairman of the VNV pilots union, Joost van Doesburg was surprised by the UWV's acceptance of the mass firing of the Ryanair staff.

Ryanair had not yet come forward with the cited band economic numbers that had been used to justify the layoffs.

The Daily Mail quoted a VNV union spokesperson saying the motive for moving operations out of the Netherlands was not prompted by poor economic results but by the Ryanair's unwillingness to comply with the rights granted to airline workers in the Netherlands.

'Bunch of layabouts': Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. Photo / Horacio Villalobos, Getty Images

"The goal was not higher wages or more days off, but a change in culture and a guarantee of basic rights for employees in accordance with Dutch standards.

"Ryanair has to stop with the divide-and-conquer culture, and has to respect employee's fundamental rights. However, our actions have made Ryanair decide to close its Eindhoven base.

"That means that the pilots are being forced to move to southern or eastern Europe or even to North Africa."

While the scheduled flights to and from Eindhoven will not cease, their operational bases have been moved to countries with less restrictive labour laws.

Ryanair spokesman Yann Delomez told Central European News that the affected pilots "have been offered jobs elsewhere in the network".

"If they choose not to transfer, then we will respect their wishes, but there will be no jobs remaining at Eindhoven."

The Dublin-based airline has recently been in the firing line for recent incidents.

Earlier this year the airline fired cabin crew and pilots for staging a protest after they were stranded in a Portuguese airport and this week the airline challenged the need to compensate passengers affected by striking Ryanair staff.

In unflattering terms Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary told The Times his company refused to make payouts to their passengers, as demanded by EU law.

"It'd be the only industry where a bunch of layabouts can go on strike and run up a big compensation bill."