Copenhagen - Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair confirmed on Friday it will shift its Copenhagen staffing to Lithuania next week in response to planned industrial action by Danish trade unions over working conditions.

The unions want Ryanair's staff in Copenhagen to work under a Danish collective agreement, offering what they say are more attractive conditions than those the airline sets for its workers.

Ryanair, which deployed one aircraft in Copenhagen in March to fly to cities such as London and Cologne, has said previously that its pilots and cabin crew in Denmark enjoy high pay and job security.

“This is a black day for the Danish economy. Here you have Danish unions, who admit they don't have any members in Ryanair, destroying highly paid jobs for Danish pilots and cabin crew,” Eddie Wilson, Ryanair's head of personnel, said in a statement.

The airline has said it would continue to fly out of Copenhagen, but with the aircraft and staff based in Lithuania.

A Danish court ruled last week that unions could conduct sympathy action and the unions pledged to do so after talks with Ryanair broke down.

A spokesman for LO, an umbrella group of unions, pointed out on Friday the court ruling applied to the whole of the country and industrial action could also take place at Ryanair's base in Billund, western Denmark.

The action planned for 18 and 23 July may yet be averted, however.

“Ryanair says a lot of things,” LO press chief Kenneth Nielson said. “The only thing we can take action over is what they do.”

Ryanair has previously said it would also rebase its Billund operations, which it has been running for several years, should unions take action there.

Reuters