Talks to avert Aer Lingus industrial action fail; airline announces further cancellations

Pilots are seeking a pay increase of 24%, which they say equates to inflation since the last pay rise in 2019. File Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

The industrial action from Aer Lingus pilots will begin at midnight tonight, after talks at the Labour Court today yielded no breakthrough.

Thousands of passengers will be affected by the work-to-rule and strike action, which centres on a bitter pay dispute between the airline and union IALPA.

In a statement, Aer Lingus said: "Aer Lingus is disappointed that following the Labour Court’s separate meetings with Aer Lingus and Forsa / IALPA today, that its assessment is that it is unable to assist in the dispute at this time.

"Aer Lingus has made it clear that it remains available for discussions both directly and through the State’s industrial relations framework."

In a letter to members this evening, IALPA said the industrial action would go ahead as planned from tonight.

It said the Labour Court had said it will not intervene at this time, but that this would be reviewed in July.

Further cancellations

Earlier, it was confirmed that Aer Lingus will cancel a further 50 flights due to industrial action taken by pilots next Monday and Tuesday.

It comes on top of the more than 200 flights cancelled already due to the planned work-to-rule and strike action from pilots who are members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA).

It’s understood that the further cancellations have been made on a contingency basis for Monday 1 July and Tuesday 2 July, despite hopes that progress can be made in the ongoing industrial dispute.

In a statement, Aer Lingus said: “Implementing these cancellations [for Monday and Tuesday] is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible.

“These cancellations will be implemented today and details will be communicated to impacted customers. Details of the services impacted are set out on ‘Travel Advisory’ page of aerlingus.com.” 

The company added that it is giving customers as many options as possible, should they wish to change their plans.

Both sides had agreed to attend separate meetings at the Labour Court on Tuesday to provide briefings on the industrial stand-off, with Aer Lingus’ meeting at 11am followed by IALPA’s at 2pm.

Speaking ahead of the company’s Labour Court meeting, Aer Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton said the dispute was “hurting everybody”, including holidaymakers, people travelling for family events and Taylor Swift fans.

Aer Lingus has already cancelled more than 200 flights and sought to re-accommodate 35,000 passengers amid the bitter dispute over pay.

The work-to-rule action will begin from Wednesday, with a separate eight-hour strike planned for Saturday.

Pilots are seeking a pay increase of 24%, which they say equates to inflation since the last pay rise in 2019.

Aer Lingus has said it is willing to offer pay increases of 12.5% or above if "improvements in productivity and flexibility" are discussed.

Earlier, Taoiseach Simon Harris asked both sides to “dig deep” to come to a resolution in the ongoing saga.

The Taoiseach said it was "absolutely vital" that both sides engage in talks to find a resolution.

"My challenge to the parties now is to bring that engagement forward, rather than putting people through a prolonged period of agony and chaos, and then engaging in the end anyway," Mr Harris said on Tuesday morning.

This dispute will be settled the same way every dispute is settled: compromise, engagement, sitting around a table. That's what needs to happen.

"I welcome the fact that today, both parties have agreed to attend the Labour Court, albeit separately, but I would ask people to dig deep here."

He said there would be "very little sympathy" for anybody involved in cancelling family holidays and disrupting the tourism sector if they are not engaging "intensively".