Further 76 Aer Lingus flights cancelled as dispute continues

Aer Lingus has cancelled 76 additional flights between 8 July and 10 July due to the ongoing industrial action by pilots.

The dispute has so far led to almost 500 flight cancellations and has disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers.

Pilots initially demanded a 24% pay rise, arguing their pay has not kept up with high inflation levels since their last pay increase in 2019.

However, Aer Lingus is reportedly seeking changes to the pilots' working conditions before it will agree to any pay rise above 12.25%.

The pilots, who are represented by the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) began staging their indefinite work-to-rule protest on 26 June.

It means they are not working overtime or carrying out any other out-of-hours duties.

In addition, hundreds of pilots went on an eight-hour strike on Saturday which affected 17,000 passengers on the day.

After talks facilitated by the Labour Court failed last week, they threatened to ramp up their industrial action.

However, the court has requested that there is no escalation and pilots are considering that request in light of the latest negotiations.

The Irish Labour Court is now expected to issue a formal recommendation in a bid to end the Aer Lingus pilots' pay dispute. It is not believed a recommendation will be made by the court before Thursday, however.

The Labour Court is an independent organisation which provides mediation in workplace disputes, assisting employers, unions and workers to reach resolutions.

It is a "court of last resort" meaning its services can only be sought if parties to disputes have exhausted all other options first.

The Labour Court hears both sides of an industrial relations disputes in a tribunal setting which takes place in private.

It then issues a written recommendation setting out the court's opinion on how the dispute should be resolved.

Entering the Labour Court on Wednesday, Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus corporate affairs officer, said the airline would like to go through the process of the court recommendations before commenting on next steps.

As he headed into the Labour Court, IALPA president Captain Mark Tighe said that he is always optimistic.

“Ireland is a small, but very successful open economy and it must be acknowledged that business owners who do not protect their employees from inflation in a successful environment are ultimately and in time going to impoverish their employees,” he said.

“What will happen from the lowest employees is they slide off the bottom one by one. And we asked the Labour Court to consider as we go forward, the profitable nature of the company, and how a reasonable claim is to protect us all from inflation.”

Capt Tighe said that any recommendation from the Labour Court will likely go to a ballot by members.

In a statement on Wednesday, Aer Lingus said that it is cancelling an additional 76 flights between 8 July and 10 July.

The airline said it is cancelling the flights "in order to continue to protect as many services as possible" from the continuing industrial action.

"Implementing these cancellations is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible," Aer Lingus said.

Details of the cancellations will be communicated to impacted customers.

Further details of the services impacted are set out on the Aer Lingus website.

Donal Moriarty said the decision for pilots to remain on work-the-rule had caused more disruption to passengers.

"There are now 470 cancellations that we've had to make," Mr Moriarty said.

"We are trying to communicate as effectively as possible with our customers, giving them the options to rebook, to refund or to rearrange their travel. But we do appreciate that this is very disruptive upon them. And that's uppermost in our mind," he said.

Mr Moriarty added that the reasons for the cancellations is to "build resilience" into the schedule.

"Without that resilience and that buffer within our operation, there would be more cancellations. The nature of the work to rule is cumulative," he said.

Aer Lingus has said customers impacted by the latest cancellations will be given the option to change their flights for free.

They will also be able to claim a refund or voucher, the airline said.

These options will be communicated directly to impacted customers.

"Aer Lingus fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by IALPA's industrial action and is giving impacted customers as many options as possible," the airline said.

This has been a long-running dispute over pay but here are some of the key things that have happened in recent days.

• 25 June 2024 - Separate meetings take place at Ireland's Labour Court with Aer Lingus and the Ialpa
• 26 June 2024 - Pilots' indefinite work-to-rule begins.
• 26 June 2024 - The airline issues an invitation for talks to Ialpa on Wednesday after pilots began their work-to-rule
• 27 June 2024 - Talks between Ialpa and Aer Lingus to resolve the ongoing pay dispute break down without a resolution
• 28 June 2024 - Aer Lingus confirms it is cancelling a further 122 flights, due to the “indefinite nature” of Ialpa pilots’ industrial action
• 29 June 2024 - Pilots take part in eight hours of strike action
• 1 July 2024 - The Labour Court facilitates eight-hours of fresh talks between the two sides and confirms it will exercise its right to intervene in the dispute
• 2 July 2024 - Aer Lingus and the pilots' union are given a deadline of close of business on Tuesday to file their final written submissions to the Labour Court.