A rescue plan for loss-making low-cost airline Buzz was announced by Ryanair today - with 13 routes being saved but 440 jobs lost.
Ryanair, which is taking over Buzz, said Buzz operations, which are shutting down for the month of April, would start again on May 1st.
But of the 610 existing Buzz staff, just 170 will be staying on, operating longer flying hours on more pay.
Unions accused Ryanair today of forcing pilots and cabin crew to agree new terms "under duress".
But Ryanair's chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary said his airline had been fair with staff, telling them that their airline was losing money and going out of business.
The routes that Buzz will operate from May 1st are to Dusseldorf, Berlin and Frankfurt in Germany; Bergerac, Brest, Grenoble, Toulouse, Tours, La Rochelle, Limoges and Poitiers in France; and Jerez and Murcia in Spain.
Ryanair said the rescued Buzz operation would, over the first 12 months, operate eight aircraft from its base at Stansted Airport in Essex and carry almost three million passengers.
Mr Oli Jackson, a regional organiser for the Transport and General Workers Union, said: "We wish the new venture well, of course, but the news on job losses is stark and the way the cuts have been made is unacceptable.
"Staff have in our view signed new contracts under duress."
He added that the union would be meeting Buzz's current owners KLM to discuss the circumstances of the redundancies.
The GMB union also spoke about staff being "forced to sign" new contracts.
Mr O'Leary was asked today whether his airline had lost public goodwill and also lost the public relations battle over its handling of the Buzz takeover.
He replied: "Public goodwill is vastly overrated. It is better demonstrated by the number of people willing to fly on our airline. I don't worry about public relations."
Ryanair announced today that fares on the 13 Buzz routes would start from £9.99 for Dusseldorf and that there would be special offers on the routes for May to former Buzz passengers whose flights had to be cancelled in April.
In addition, Ryanair is offering one million seats on its own flights for just £10 one way for flights from March 21st to April 16th.
Mr O'Leary said he was making the offer to encourage people to fly now that war with Iraq was imminent. He said he did not think the conflict would have an impact on European air travel and he predicted that his airline's bookings would rise 20 per cent in the event of a war.
PA