Skip ness
That's correct, agency contractor rolls stopped about 2-3 years ago.
The legal employer is OSM aviation which is part owned by Norwegian. So I guess some would say smoke & mirrors but it is permanent employment, tax & NI deducted at source.
The big attraction for Ryanair pilots is leaving Ryanair, everything else is a bonus (UK) including crew food, sick pay, pension, private medical, paid holidays, standby payment ( in addition to basic pay) positioning pay, hotel out of base, free uniform and acquiring points to replace items, downsides are that the roster is variable and for some having to pay tax as an employee,