Aer Lingus talks focus on Shannon

The Labour Relations Commission has once again been tasked with finding enough common ground between Aer Lingus management and its staff to stave off potentially significant strikes which could ground tens of thousands of passengers in the run-up to Christmas.

However, the talks on Friday, to be chaired by LRC director of conciliation Kevin Foley, will only address the issues which exist between management and cabin crew over the closure of Shannon Airport, and not the other major flashpoint, staff rosters.

The closure, which will happen in the next few weeks, will mean 87 cabin crew will face either relocation to Dublin or Cork, voluntary severance, unpaid leave for those who secure work with a crewing agency ACL, or redundancy.