A union has announced an agreement with Ryanair which it says will result in no job losses among cabin crew at the airline.

Unite hailed the airline’s “constructive” approach as being in direct contrast to other employers in the aviation sector.

The union said it had been in talks with Ryanair since it announced job cuts in May as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

As part of the negotiations Unite said it has agreed that workers will have a temporary pay cut of 5% for the lowest paid, 7.5% for others, and 10% for the highest paid.

The pay cuts will be returned in two tranches in 2023 and 2024, or earlier if Ryanair returns to pre-Covid levels of business sooner, said Unite.

It is always difficult for members to accept reductions in pay but in order to preserve jobs it is exactly what our cabin crew have agreed to do.

Unite members employed at Ryanair have been balloted on the agreement and have voted to accept the pay reductions in order to preserve jobs, the union announced.

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said: “Unite has been contending with an incredibly difficult set of circumstances in the aviation sector.

“The agreement with Ryanair shows that the company has taken a more constructive and less damaging approach to dealing with the issues than many of its competitor airlines.”

The union’s national aviation officer Oliver Richardson said: “That these reductions are temporary and tiered to ensure the lowest paid are least affected was an important outcome of our negotiations and critical to our members voting to accept the proposals.

“Unite has always maintained that temporary problems require temporary solutions. Ryanair’s management have shown that it is possible to reach an agreement on exactly that basis.

“It is always difficult for members to accept reductions in pay but in order to preserve jobs it is exactly what our cabin crew have agreed to do.”