Remaining Aer Lingus staff will be hit by sweeping cutbacks

AER Lingus staff remaining after the airline axes hundreds of staff will see their wages and conditions cut to the levels of lower cost rivals Ryanair and Easyjet.

The company is determined to recoup some of the €93m losses the airline has experienced this year. Company chairman Colm Barrington said the sweeping cutbacks will be across the airline and will see staff losing the “legacy payments and conditions built up over 70 years of state ownership when there was not the financial discipline that a PLC requires”.

Proof of the struggle Aer Lingus will have, in introducing sweeping cuts before Christmas, is evidenced by the fact pilots are currently taking the airline to court for failing to pay a wage increase to which they say they are entitled.