Ryanair pilots in Italy suspended unique strike action due Friday after the no-frills Irish airline offered to recognise unions for the first time.

The Associazione Nazionale Professionale Aviazione Civile (ANPAC) called Ryanair's move "a very important first step", resulting in ANPAC suspending a first walk-out by Ryanair pilots that had been planned for between 1200 and 1600 GMT.

A simultaneous stoppage by Italian air traffic control, alongside a day-long strike at struggling Alitalia, was still set to go ahead.

Earlier Friday, Ryanair offered to recognise unions in a bid to halt a series of planned strikes by Europe-wide pilots working for the carrier ahead of New Year.

"Christmas flights are very important to our customers and we wish to remove any worry or concern that they may be disrupted by pilot industrial action," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement announcing a conditional offer to recognise pilot unions in Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

The Dublin-based airline said it would recognise the unions "as long as they establish committees of Ryanair pilots... as Ryanair will not engage with pilots who fly for competitor airlines".

"Putting the needs of our customers first... is the reason why we will now deal with our pilots through recognised national union structures and we hope and expect that these structures can and will be agreed with our pilots early in the New Year," O'Leary added.

Impact, the umbrella organisation of the Irish pilots' union Ialpa, said it hoped to meet with Ryanair's management on Friday or over the weekend to "make progress" before next week's strikes.

British pilots union BALPA welcomed "this change of heart and position" while German union Vereinigung Cockpit said the onus was now on Ryanair to "prove that this announcement is serious".

Ryanair pilots based in Ireland and Portugal have strikes planned for Wednesday. Germany-based pilots have agreed to unspecified strike action.

In Spain, there are no strikes planned for pilots, but ground staff unions have not ruled out action on December 30.

The recognition of pilot unions is a "bluff", Jorge Carrillo of Spain's CCOO union told AFP.

Portuguese-based pilots have not yet responded, but the flight-crew union is hoping to start a dialogue with the carrier and has not ruled out a strike.

- 'Need to move on' -

Voicing confidence that a deal would be reached, Ryanair chief operating officer Peter Bellew told BBC radio that it was "time for change".

"We need to move on. We have in the past changed the business model... (we) became more customer focused," he said.

Next week's industrial action planned for Ireland was backed by 94 percent of pilots directly employed by Ryanair in the eurozone member.

However, a majority of pilots used by the airline in Ireland are not directly employed by the company.

Ryanair has meanwhile been forced to cancel 20,000 flights through to March because of pilot scheduling problems stretching back to September.

Air traffic control delays and weather disruption also contributed to the cancellations, according to Ryanair.

Despite such difficulties, Ryanair still expects to deliver annual profit after tax of 1.40-1.45 billion euros ($1.65-1.71 billion).

The airline is also seeking to capitalise from the recent collapse of smaller competitors in an oversupplied market.

Austrian carrier Niki ceased operations on Wednesday after its owner Air Berlin went bankrupt in August.

Short-haul British carrier Monarch Airlines declared bankruptcy in October.

Source: AFP