Ryanair cabin crews and flight staff will no longer receive free tea or coffee on board, and will be encouraged to bring their own refreshments to work as part of a fresh cost-cutting exercise by its chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary.
In a circular to staff informing them that they would be receiving a backdated 3 per cent pay rise, Mr O'Leary said it was necessary to continue to reduce costs to finance the pay increase.
"The proposed pay increase on April 1st was deferred whilst uncertainty hung over our fares, profitability and business," he states.
"Our shareholders would question our commitment to lowest costs if we were awarding ourselves pay increases at a time when our profits and share price had fallen. We are taking a big risk by increasing pay at a time of very difficult market conditions and intense competition," he writes. "But we believe now is the time to risk the pay increase."
With effect from May 1st, he says, there would be a number of other changes to the conditions of airline staff. These include:
The removal of a subsidised staff canteen, with employees offered the choice of paying for their own tea and coffee or bringing them to work.
All medicals, licences and professional fees would no longer be paid for by the company, but by the individuals concerned.
Pilots would no longer be allowed undertake medicals during working hours, but instead would have to book these on their days off.
All new staff will only be entitled to a stakeholder pension on joining. Existing staff with either a defined benefit or defined contribution pensions would continue to retain this "for at least another year".
Uniforms would be "made available" at cost to all staff who required them.
One former pilot, who did not wish to be named, said Ryanair was in effect simply reinstating a 3 per cent pay increase which it had already promised. This was in exchange for a "fundamental attack" on the terms and conditions of staff at Ryanair.
However, a spokeswoman for Ryanair said that even in difficult times, it remained Ryanair's priority to reward its staff first with better pay and conditions than its competitors. This pay increase at this time was a demonstration of the company's confidence in its people, she said.