Ryanair aims to create 1,000 jobs in Europe

RYANAIR plans to create 1,000 jobs this year — but none of the new positions will be based in Ireland.

Ryanair expects to hire more than 1,000 new staff due to an increase in its fleet from 270 to 305 aircraft. The airline said the expansion would create vacancies for more pilots, cabin crew, aircraft engineers and sales and marketing executives.

As part of its long-running propaganda battle with the Government and regulation of the aviation industry, Ryanair blamed Government policy and state agencies for the fact that only Irish people working abroad would benefit from its growing business.

A spokesperson said the airline’s seat capacity and traffic at Dublin, Cork and Shannon would continue to decline at the same time as it was growing rapidly through the establishment of five bases this year in Billund, Denmark; Wroclaw, Poland; Palma, Spain; Manchester, England; and Paphos, Cyprus.

Ryanair blamed the fact that none of the new jobs would be created in Ireland on a combination of high charges at airports controlled by the Dublin Aviation Authority and the €3 travel tax.

It also estimated that its overall passenger numbers would grow to 80 million in 2012, from 76 million last year.

In contrast, passenger volume at DAA-controlled airports had fallen from 30 million in 2007 to 22 million in 2011, the Ryanair spokesperson said.

The airline also criticised the decision by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar to keep the three airports under state ownership.

It claimed the only airport to record growth in recent years was the privately-owned facility at Knock.

“The public ownership of the DAA airports in recent years has been a disaster for Irish tourism and jobs,” said the Ryanair spokesperson.