Cabin crew strike disrupts flights

Flights operated by Aer Lingus were disrupted today by a one-day pay strike involving cabin crews.

Services were also being hit by the effects of bad weather earlier this week, the company said.

But the airline said all but 19 of its usual 200 daily flights would operate on planes chartered in for the day, and only a fraction of its 20,000 passengers would face hold-ups or cancellations.

The cabin crew’s trade union, IMPACT, accused Aer Lingus of trying to force through changes which would leave staff worse off in the long run – a charge rejected by the company.

Meanwhile, a ruling was awaited from Labour Court conciliators to see whether a further 24-hour stoppage could be avoided for Bank Holiday Monday.

The more than 1,000 staff caught up in today’s action mounted pickets at the three main airports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon.

Aer Lingus Chief Operations Officer Seamus Kearney pledged that all of the airline’s customers would be “taken care of in some shape or form”.

He added: “We had 20,000 passengers booked with us today, and we expect to be carrying in excess of 18,500 of those passengers.

“Of the remaining 1,500, our reservations staff have been working with them since Tuesday in terms of getting alternatives.”