The windfall – which will come his way if he doubles the company’s share price or profitability within five years – was backed by 50.5 percent of shareholders at yesterday’s annual meeting. As part of the deal Mr O’Leary, 58, has agreed to take a 50 percent cut to his pay and maximum annual bonus. In return he will get share options which could be worth around £90million in five years.

The company’s share price has nearly halved over the past two years.

Ryanair has also had to scale back its expansion plans following the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.

Meanwhile, its pilots in the UK are staging a series of 24-hour stoppages this month over pay and working conditions.

Regarding the windfall, Mr O’Leary said: “I think most shareholders would take the view that if he doubles the share price, we don’t care what you pay him for the next five years.”

But Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: “This payment epitomises why so many people now think the economy works to serve the interests of those at the top and does nothing for ordinary working people.”

He added: “Even if Ryanair hits its targets to double its share price or profitability, that shouldn’t be automatically attributed to the CEO.”

Ashley Hamilton Claxton, of Royal London Asset Management, which last year sold its Ryanair holdings in actively managed funds amid concerns over the firm’s corporate governance, also criticised the bonus package.

She said: “Many of the reasons for the company’s recent poor performance, such as labour issues, strikes and logistical problems, have been within management’s control. So this eye-watering payout for rectifying these issues and achieving a share price recovery adds insult to injury.”

Ryanair employs about 17,000 across Europe but Mr O’Leary said up to 700 pilots could lose their jobs due to a fall in the rate of natural attrition.

He said: “We are looking at voluntary redundancies but ultimately we will move from voluntary to compulsory very quickly.”

He added that pilots had already been offered 12 months unpaid leave.

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