Aer Lingus ‘must pay more into pension fund’

Aer Lingus has been warned it must up its contribution to the ailing pensions of its staff in order to avert the disruptive industrial action which could hit flights within a matter of weeks.

For a number of months the airline has said its offer of a once-off payment of €140m — €110m for current employees in the Irish Airline Superannuation Scheme and €30m for deferred members of the scheme — is “adequate”.

The company reiterated that position last week in a letter to staff union Siptu from its director of change, Sean Murphy.