150 Aer Lingus workers face voluntary redundancy

As many as 150 Aer Lingus staff across Dublin, Cork, and Shannon airports could be made redundant as a result of a voluntary severance scheme which was opened to employees earlier this week.

The redundancies are part of the company’s Core programme, launched last year, which is aimed at increasing productivity and realising cost savings through a reduction in headcount across parts of the business.

The redundancies will take effect between March 1 and December 31 and are not related to IAG’s takeover bid.

“We constantly need to restructure to stay competitive and as a result the composition of our workforce constantly changes,” Aer Lingus director of communications Declan Kearney said.

“While we require less employees in certain areas of our business, we are hiring in other areas.

“We are currently actively recruiting to fill about 300 positions.”

The Irish airline reported a mixed set of figures with short-haul passenger numbers declining by more than 7.5% year-on-year, while its long-haul business saw a 22% rise in traffic.

In total, the former national carrier flew 546,000 passengers in January — a decrease of 4.5%, which Aer Lingus attributed to planned reductions in short-haul capacity.

“The passenger statistics released this morning are indicative of the challenges that will continue to effect the Aer Lingus short-haul routes and are likely to intensify as Ryanair continues to roll out measures that are targeted at business travellers, a staple of the Aer Lingus routes to Heathrow airport,” said Merrion Stockbrokers head of research David Holohan yesterday.

Overall passenger load factor for the month was up 2.4% to 68.9%.