If Ryanair don't like Norwegian pinching their pilots, they need to increase the pilots terms and conditions above that of Norwegian, and treat pilots with respect. Simple. Note that despite all the negative publicity around the pilot shortage Ryanair have not increased the T&Cs at all, and experienced pilots and staff will continue to leave from all departments

Simple. Note that despite all the negative publicity around the pilot shortage Ryanair have not increased the T&Cs at all,

I think you'll find that has been the case for the past few years, not just this month, and indeed some have worsened in passing years while the competitiors have gone in the opposite direction. Go figure.

RAT5 - I'm very well aware (more than most on here) it has been the case for many years. My point is (maybe badly put) is despite the publicity and the disruption, Ryanair are still not doing a single thing to prevent this happening again.

Offering new joiners a bonus is actually a salery advance - won't help.

Offering current pilots a bribe not to quit until 31 Oct 18 - complete insult.

Employing 150 pilots next week...great. Who is going to train them? The training dept is beyond stretched as it is. Employing pilots is one thing, actually getting them trained to be a solution is another

RAT5 - GJP : I thought we where discussing those things under terms, but;
I'm sure some pilots want a high sector pay and organising their own tax affairs, instead of a seriously reduced one to cover expenses transfered to the airline like withheld and employers taxes plus some of the soundries like water, food, travels and hotels. Not to talk about the higthened tax & social expense implications of local contracts for some countries. And job security could be no higher by local contracts if they are organized through local freestanding companies, just owned by Ryanair instead of the pilots themselves. Are you sure getting writh of the niggly irritations are worth it.
But there could be a 2 tier option, hence my earlier post:

It is time for Ryanair to get a real cross-functional Deputy CEO, with a seat on the board, so it can work on more options for the future. O'Leary would keep an eye on proceedings and work as a back-out plan until some years down the line he could take his rightful place as a working Chairman.
This person would need to have experience from how all parts of the airline functions, be focused on the core values but at the same time be a person of trust/truth and have creative ideas on how to adjust the path.

Vicking, I 100% agree this is for terms and conditions rather than airlines and routes. However you suggested a route "solution" to a HR problem hence why the following posts are correcting the thought that muscling in on routes is a clever idea...

It would appear Ryanair have two planes training at PIK at the moment, one touch and go for each new pilot, soon have them trained up and operating on service flights.:8

That's one step further than 'Fizzair" ... Going back to their early days they put a Captain in the LHS without so much as a simulator check, no sooner had his first flight got airborne than he declared a MAYDAY based on his own incapacitation, at that point the First Officer utrtered words that cannot be repeated here, took control, and landed the aircraft back in Budapest.

What are Ryanair doing with their winter schedule? It is quite late to be making changes.

I have just had 10 flights (from a few bases) with schedule changes, day changes or outright cancellations. So far not a single notification or email.

Quite a few flights seem to be dropped.

Why has Ryanair cancelled two months of flights from Belfast to Gatwick? What is going on? I have block booked flights!

Something seriously wrong here.

Summer 18 routes have gone offline

I requested a refund of one of my flights and left the rest, I can't take the idea of two months of cancelled flights seriously.

How daily are they 3, 4?

BFS-LGW is x5 daily during the winter season.

Bad! That is a lot!
I wonder why...

Ryanair have really made a mess of the past few months. The recent chaos has meant they not even been able to run their summer 2018 schedule press events (they did a small few bases but stopped). It always generated a lot of free PR.

Is Robin Kiely still with them?

Not to say they can't put them on sale. Kate Sherry, O'Brien and Kiely usually do route announcements. Obviously bigger issues going on need focussing on.

They can't set up new routes they don't have crews for.

The planes are coming crew or no crew.

EDI to STN has also disappeared

Is this something to do with Brexit?

Winter 2017 seems to have disappeared altogether at the moment