AER LINGUS has announced the cancellation of hundreds of flights as strike action by its pilots gets underway.
Industrial action by the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) began at midnight yesterday, with pilots now refusing to work overtime, accept changes to set rosters, or take on out-of-hours management requests.
They have also confirmed an eight-hour strike by pilots this Saturday, June 29.
Aer Lingus and the IALPA have been in discussions over the past week, since the union issued seven days’ notice to the airline’s management informing them that their pilots will begin industrial action this week.
They have been unable to come to an agreement on pay rises for pilots, which is at the crux of the strike action.
The union is seeking a 24 per cent pay rise for its pilots.
Aer Lingus has offered a 12.25 per cent rise but has said it is open to further discussions.
“Aer Lingus is available for meaningful direct discussions with IALPA in order to seek a resolution to this pay dispute,” the Irish airline said earlier this week.
“The airline has repeatedly sought to engage directly with IALPA on ways to increase pilot pay beyond the 12.25% increase agreed with all other collectively bargained groups, based upon reaching agreement on improvements in productivity and flexibility,” they added.
In order to minimise disruption to its passengers while the industrial action is underway, Aer Lingus has announced the cancellation of 120 flights on Saturday.
The move will impact 15,000 customers on the airline’s short-haul services.
They have also “re-timed long-haul services” on June 28 and 29 “in order to avoid cancellation of these services”, they explained.
A further 50 flights have been cancelled over July 1 and 2, the airline has also confirmed.
“In order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the impact of IALPA’s continuing industrial action, Aer Lingus has had to take the step of cancelling 50 additional flights over the course of Monday 1st July and Tuesday 2nd July,” they stated.
“Implementing these cancellations is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible,” they added.
The airline and the union are due to resume talks today.
Customers scheduled to travel with Aer Lingus between June 26 and July 2 will be given the option to change their flights for free.
They will also be able to cancel their flight and claim a refund or voucher.