Limited service during strike

AER LINGUS has leased eight planes and crews to accommodate more than a fifth of the 45,000 passengers whose flight plans have been thrown into disarray by a pilot strike next week.

The airline usually operates up to 100 flights into and out of Irish airports every day. However, next Tuesday and Wednesday it is likely there will only be 15 flights in each direction on each day as all 480 of Aer Lingus’s own pilots engage in 48 hours of strike action in protest at the company’s decision to impose local terms and conditions on pilots at the new Belfast base.

The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association and trade union IMPACT say the company should abide by collective agreements while the company claims it is acting in line with recommendations of the Labour Court and Flynn Report.

Aer Lingus has found enough aircraft to carry 8,000 passengers during the two days of protest, though the fact it is only operating flights within Europe would indicate it has not secured big enough planes to operate on its transatlantic routes.

The eight-aircraft fleet which it has assembled has been leased from a number of airlines and leasing companies with which it already has leasing arrangements.

“We worked through the night to source aircraft and we are very hopeful to be able to operate a very limited schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday,” said Aer Lingus business development manager Enda Corneille.

“We will operate from Dublin to Heathrow, Manchester, Amsterdam, Malaga, Faro and there will be limited operations from Cork and Heathrow.”

Meanwhile, the Labour Relations Commission has offered to intervene in the dispute between the airline and its pilots.

IMPACT official Michael Landers said IMPACT and its pilot members were, and always have been, available to discuss the dispute with Aer Lingus management.

“The problem has been that the airline has refused to engage with us and has pushed ahead to establish a base in Belfast, with complete disregard to its obligations under collective agreements between the union and the company,” he said.

Aer Lingus said it would go into talks, but only if the pilots removed the threat of strike action first.