Further complications have emerged at Ryanair as some staff at the East Midlands base in England have allegedly been told to take a six-week block of unpaid leave.

Only time will tell if Ryanair gets over this current major dilemma, but its handling of the crisis may well be the defining moment for both Michael O’Leary and for Ryanair.

Ryanair has offered its pilots bonuses of up to €12,000 to buy back their leave and reduce the number of flights it has to cancel.

Embattled Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has a knack for finding his way out of a jam.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said he has never heard of a global shortage of pilots but according to Boeing’s latest outlook report, the industry needs more than 600,000 pilots to meet “extraordinary” demands over the next 20 years.

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary stepped up his warnings over Brexit saying the outcome of the talks would lead to an “inevitable” hard landing and bring major disruption to flights into and out of the UK.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he’s strongly backing Leo Varadkar and not fellow Corkman Simon Coveney to become the new Fine Gael leader because he believes that the country needs a fresh change.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary is one of the most successful businessmen this country has produced. He radiates a can-do, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer determination and positivity.

Ryanair has resurrected the idea of operating its own long-haul flights at some point, despite having seemingly killed off the notion two years ago.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has said the current Dáil is the “worst assembly of halfwits and lunatics”.

Ryanair shares jumped more than 5% yesterday after the company offered an upbeat outlook, despite Brexit uncertainties, and approved a plan to return another €550m to shareholders.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary last year enjoyed a 33% hike in pay to €3.16m — €8,657 a day.

One could mistakenly think that, with his successes to date, Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, might be kicking his heels a little. After all, he runs the biggest airline in Europe. It is highly profitable and Mr O’Leary’s success has been well-rewarded.

Ryanair is expected, in the coming months, to announce an extension to its share buyback programme which will have returned €800m to investors when scheduled to run its course in September.

Having experienced an emotional year split between tragedy and triumph, Mouse Morris reflects on the dark days and then the poignant National wins. Declan Colley takes it all on board.

Ryanair is battling lower fares in the first months of its financial year, weighed down by French air-traffic controller strikes and by travellers’ concerns about a future terrorist incident following last month’s bombings in Brussels.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has strongly criticised the €70m cost increase for the second parallel runway at Dublin Airport.

A one-click payment system; more leg room, and “less yellow” are just some of the innovations Ryanair are introducing to improve the passenger experience.

Michael O’Leary is happy to leave the decision whether his star chaser Don Cossack wears any headgear in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup to trainer Gordon Elliott.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary admits the airline would have ditched its cold and inflexible approach years ago if they had realised the positive spin-offs.