Ryanair has filed a motion with the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) seeking a collective dismissal of all personnel based in the Netherlands, the Dutch Pilots' Union (Vereniging Nederlandse Verkeersvliegers - VNV) has said in a statement.

"The VNV is not surprised by this step from Ryanair. Earlier, the company already indicated that it wants to 'phase out' the personnel who oppose a forced transfer abroad," the union said.

The Irish LCC said the move is justified by poor economic results of its only Dutch base at Eindhoven. Ryanair closed the base in early November 2018, although a court in 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) earlier found that the LCC's decision was an unlawful retaliation against the earlier strikes of its Dutch pilots.

The court said that while it had no power to block the closure of the base as such, it ordered Ryanair to continue offering pilots the option to fly to and from Eindhoven while based at the Dutch airport. The airline was also required to continue paying Dutch salaries to the pilots.

The VNV added it would assist all its members in trying to dismiss the collective lay-offs on procedural reasons, while also referring back to the November ruling and saying that the closure of the base was illegal in the first place.

Ryanair had around 200 staff employed at Eindhoven prior to the base closure, including 50 pilots and 150 cabin crew.

The airline previously said that it offered all employees an option to relocate to bases abroad but "would respect" if they chose redundancy over the relocation.