Ryanair 2009 Annual Report Download - page 99

99
EMPLOYEES AND LABOR RELATIONS
The following table sets forth the number of Ryanair’s employees at each of March 31, 2009, 2008 and
2007:
Classification
Number of
Employees at
March 31, 2009
Number of
Employees at March
31, 2008
Number of
Employees at March
31, 2007
Management
...............................
99 99 99
Administrative
............................
257 229 206
Reservations
................................
14 30 75
Maintenance
................................
202 201 177
Ground Operations
......................
384 485 482
Pilots ................................
...........
1,852 1,599 1,497
Flight Attendants
.........................
3,808 3,277 1,926
Total ................................
............
6,616 5,920 4,462
Ryanair’s pilots, flight attendants and maintenance and ground operations personnel undergo training,
both initial and recurrent. A substantial portion of the initial training for Ryanair’s flight attendants is devoted to
safety procedures, and cabin crews are required to undergo annual evacuation and fire drill training during their
tenure with the airline. Ryanair utilizes its own Boeing 737-800 aircraft simulators for pilot training. Ryanair
has established an in-house apprenticeship program to train maintenance engineers that annually produces
between four and six qualified engineers at Dublin and eight at Prestwick. Ryanair also provides salary increases
to its engineers who complete advanced training in certain fields of aircraft maintenance.
IAA regulations require pilots to be licensed as commercial pilots with specific ratings for each aircraft
to be flown. In addition, IAA regulations require all commercial pilots to be medically certified as physically fit.
At March 31, 2009, the average age of Ryanair’s pilots was 38.2 years and their average period of employment
with Ryanair was 4.4 years. Licenses and medical certification are subject to periodic re-evaluation and require
recurrent training and recent flying experience in order to be maintained. Maintenance engineers must be
licensed and qualified for specific aircraft. Flight attendants must undergo initial and periodic competency
training. Training programs are subject to approval and monitoring by the IAA. In addition, the appointment of
senior management personnel directly involved in the supervision of flight operations, training, maintenance and
aircraft inspection must be satisfactory to the IAA. Based on its experience in managing the airline’s growth to
date, management believes that there is a sufficient pool of qualified and licensed pilots, engineers and
mechanics in Ireland, in the U.K. and within the EU to satisfy Ryanair’s anticipated future needs in the areas of
flight operations, maintenance and quality control and that Ryanair will not face significant difficulty in hiring
and continuing to employ the required personnel. Ryanair has also been able to satisfy its short-term needs for
additional pilots by contracting with certain employment agencies that represent experienced flight personnel
and, as of March 31, 2009, Ryanair had 1,041 such pilots under contract. These contract pilots are included in
the table above.
Ryanair has licensed IAA-approved organizations in Sweden and the Netherlands to operate pilot
training courses using Ryanair’s syllabus, in order to grant Boeing 737 type-ratings. Each trainee pilot must pay
for his or her own training and, based on his or her performance, he or she may be offered a position within
Ryanair. This program enables Ryanair to secure a continuous stream of type-rated co-pilots.