Aer Lingus confident as row worsens

IN spite of the expected cancellation of approximately a dozen flights a day for the duration of its rostering dispute with cabin crew, Aer Lingus still hopes to accommodate the vast majority of its passengers for the foreseeable future.

For the last five days the airline has been using aircraft and crew leased from other carriers, including Ryanair, to cover the shortfall in staffing levels caused by the suspension of more than 200 cabin crew.

However, Aer Lingus management has started cancelling flights on routes where it has multiple trips each day. Yesterday saw the cancellations of six round trips — 12 flights — to destinations including Manchester, Prague, Dusseldorf and Amsterdam.

“Where possible, cancellations will be confined to routes with a high frequency schedule,” the airline said in a statement. “This is to enable customers to be brought to their desired destination on the same day, on another direct flight. Where we foresee difficulties in securing alternative aircraft, we are proactively cancelling early in order to be able to offer customers alternative options. Customers will be informed of any cancellations in advance by SMS message and email and via aerlingus.com where flight information is available.”

Aer Lingus will continue to lease aircraft and crews from other airlines in order to minimise passenger disruption. At current levels, the financial cost of these leases is not material in the context of the Group’s operations. However, a continuation of the dispute could have an adverse impact on passenger bookings which could, in turn, have a potentially significant impact on trading performance.

It is understood that flights to and from London, Amsterdam and Paris will be targeted over the coming days because of the frequency of the services offered to those locations.

Yesterday, Aer Lingus began disciplinary meetings with the first of the 200 cabin crew who have refused to operate the new rosters introduced by management on January 17. This is only the start of the disciplinary process, but it could lead to the dismissal of staff within a matter of days rather than weeks.

IMPACT trade union, which represents cabin crew, rejected suggestions it was to blame for the cancelled flights, reiterating that its members were turning up for work daily and willing to work their original rosters.

“Aer Lingus has its own expensive planes on the tarmac, while it spends €400,000 a day hiring external aircraft and crews,” said IMPACT spokesman Bernard Harbor. “It has said it is unwilling to talk about the relatively minor issues that remain to be negotiated and it has reneged on its promise to passengers that flight schedules would be maintained. The company’s approach to this problem has been shown to be unreasonable and unsustainable and it’s time for a rethink.”

Labour Affairs Minister Dara Calleary has called for the two sides to engage once more with the state’s industrial relations machinery to see if a resolution can be found through mediation.

However, an Aer Lingus spokesman said the time for such mediation had passed.