Ryanair has taken the unusual step of publishing staff pay and benefit details online as workers for the airline stage strikes.

The budget airline hit back at Irish pilots staging a third 24-hour strike over working conditions.

Ryanair posted details on its website of pilots' monthly and annual salaries, which included captains from Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Germany and Portugal.

The airline claimed the pilots earned between EUR190,000 and EUR220,000 (169,000 pounds and 195,000 pounds) year.

It also said cabin crew earned up to EUR40,000 (36,000 pounds) a year - "more than double the living wage".

Ryanair cancelled 16 flights from Ireland on Tuesday, affecting 2,500 passengers.

Separately, cabin crew in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy are set to strike on Wednesday and Thursday, demanding that the airline give contractors the same work conditions as its own employees.

They are also asking that Ryanair staff be employed according to the national legislation of the country they operate in, rather than that of Ireland as is currently the case.

Ryanair said it was forced to cancel 600 flights as result, affecting 100,000 passengers.

The airline argued that since its planes fly under the Irish flag and most of its employees work on board planes, its staff are covered by Irish law.

Unions representing Ryanair's cabin crew in Spain on Tuesday dismissed a warning from the low-cost airline that it will cut jobs if its crew continues to stage strikes.

The president of Spain's Sitcpla cabin crew union, Monique Duthiers Sparre, said she did not believe Ryanair would scale back its flights in Spain because it generates 20% of its revenues in the country, the world's second tourist destination after France.

"Sincerely, it is a threat because that is Ryanair's style but that does not frighten us at all," she said.

Four airlines - Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways and Hungarian budget carrier Wizz - have filed complaints to the European Commission over air traffic control strikes in France.

In the complaint, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said: "Europe's ATC providers are reaching the point of meltdown with hundreds of flights being cancelled and delayed daily either because of ATC strikes or because Europe's ATC don't have enough staff.

"When Greece and Italy have ATC strikes, overflights continue as normal. Why won't France do the same?

"ATC providers (especially in Germany and the UK) are hiding behind adverse weather and euphemisms such as 'capacity restrictions' when the truth is they are not rostering enough air traffic controllers to cater for the number of flights that are scheduled to operate.

"These disruptions are unacceptable, and we call on Europe's governments and the EU Commission to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that ATC providers are fully staffed and that overflights are not affected when national strikes take place, as they repeatedly do in France."