Talks continue in bid to avert Aer Lingus strikes

Crunch talks aimed at averting travel chaos this week have continued through the night at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), where discussions collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Both parties re-entered talks late yesterday evening, hoping to agree terms in the row over rostering arragements.

Ialpa, the pilots' branch of trade union Impact, insists rosters were chaotic last summer and that throughout high season last year pilots were regularly forced to work six out of seven days.

They say they arre not prepared to tolerate it again and last week they served notice of industrial action.

After unsuccessul discussions on Friday night, both sides returned to the talks table yesterday evening and have been working on hammering out a deal.

If agreement is not reached tens of thousands of passengers flying from Dublin, Shannon and Cork face travel chaos from tomorrow.

Pilots at Belfast and Gatwick have also balloted for industrial action and will serve notice on the company.

Aer Lingus yesterday revealed thousands of people due to fly with the airline next week have already changed or cancelled their booking.

“We are still unsure what will happen,” said a spokesman.

“We realise that this is extremely disruptive for our customers and we apologise most sincerely for the major inconvenience this may cause.”

Customers can change flights for between tomorrow and Friday free of charge on www.aerlingus.com.