Aer Lingus management and pilots meet in last-ditch talks

DISRUPTIVE strike action at Aer Lingus is looking increasingly likely as management and pilots prepared to meet in last-ditch talks at the Labour Relations Commission.

The talks — over terms and conditions for staff at the airline’s new Belfast base — have been stopping and starting for the last two weeks, but while the sides have kept their commitment to the commission chief Kieran Mulvey to keep the contents of the discussions out of the public eye, the language being used has not been optimistic.

One member of the pilot’s representatives, IMPACT, and the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association, when asked if the talks were going well, told the Irish Examiner: