Ryanair is going to the High Court in a bid to block strike action by its UK pilots.

An application by the airline for an injunction is to be heard by a judge in London today.

The proceedings before Mrs Justice Lambert come just hours before industrial action is due to start by members of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) in a dispute over pay and conditions.

READ MORE: Ryanair pilots vote to strike

The union said Ryanair is seeking a High Court injunction on Wednesday to stop strike action by UK Ryanair pilots, due to take place on Thursday and Friday this week, with a second round of dates in September.

Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said: "Ryanair pilots in the UK have a serious dispute with their company which will not be resolved by raising legal technicalities in the High Court."

Ryanair said in a statement on Tuesday: "Balpa, who represent a small number of highly paid UK pilots should not be disrupting the return holiday flights of UK families later this week when Ryanair Captains already earn £180,000 p.a and are now seeking unjustified pay increases of between 65% to 121%."

READ MORE: Hundreds of jobs at risk at Ryanair

Members of Balpa voted by four to one to back a campaign of action on a 72% turnout.

OneSavings Bank has unveiled strong loan growth as it prepares to integrate Charter Court into its business after a £1.6 billion merger.

The lender said pre-tax profits were flat at £91 million in the six months to June 30, but rose 6% on an underlying basis to £96.9 million.

The net loan book grew 10% during the period, driven by 13% growth in organic originations with high demand across core markets.

READ MORE: Harper Macleod takes forward $120m share fight for Fanduel founders

The group said the professional buy-to-let segment and some more specialist businesses had been particularly successful.

Return on equity was 23%, down from 26% this time last year.
Net interest margin was down more than analysts had expected, coming in at 278 basis points compared to 301 last year, due to refinancing of the higher-yielding back book.

The group announced a 14% increase in the dividend to 4.9p.

READ MORE: Tourists snub Scotland because of Brexit fears

Executives at Britain's biggest firms are taking home smaller pay packages on average, but their remuneration still massively outstrips that of the average worker, new research has shown.

Chief executives at FTSE 100 companies were paid £3.46 million in 2018 on a median basis, down 13% compared with £3.97 million the previous year, according to the latest CIPD and High Pay Centre analysis.

This means CEO pay is round 117 times that of the average UK full-time worker, who makes £29,574 per year.

In mean terms, the average pay package was £4.7 million, down 16% on last year.

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said: "The gulf between the pay at the top and the bottom ends of companies is slightly smaller this year but it's still unacceptably wide and undermines public trust in business.

"We must question if CEOs are overly focused on financial measures and are being incentivised to keep share prices high rather than focusing on the long-term health of their business."