Aer Lingus: More flights cancelled due to pilot pay dispute

Updated 1 hour ago

The Irish Air Line Pilots Association (IALPA) is to suspend industrial action at Aer Lingus.

The IALPA executive committee met on Wednesday and recommended that members accept a labor court proposal to increase pilots’ pay by 17.75 percent.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled so far due to last month’s strike and a work-to-rule that began two weeks ago, part of a long-running pay dispute involving members of the association.

On Monday, the labour court recommended a 17.75 per cent pay increase for pilots over a four-year period.

The court recommended that the increase be granted as follows:

Following a meeting Wednesday evening, the IALPA executive committee voted to accept the labor court’s recommendation.

In a statement, IALPA said the lead body “will take immediate steps to suspend the ongoing work-to-rule strike, in place since June 26, pending the outcome of a ballot.”

The union said it would hold a series of meetings with its members ahead of a vote on the terms of the employment tribunal’s recommendation in the coming weeks.

IALPA President Mark Tighe described the pay increase in the recommendation as a “significant victory for pilots.”

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Aer Lingus said it welcomed the “recommendation from Fórsa and IALPA to accept the Employment Tribunal’s recommendation and decision to end the industrial action”.

“We hope that IALPA will complete the voting process as soon as possible.”

The labor court’s recommendation also proposes ending the 2022 pay scales, scrapping a crew agreement on summer hours and vacations, and canceling a debt owed by pilots to the company under that agreement.

Aer Lingus announced on Wednesday the cancellation of 25 additional flights due to a pilots’ strike.

Cancellations are for Monday, July 15 and Tuesday, July 16.

The airline said it expected to announce further cancellations on Thursday morning and details of the cancelled flights could be found on its website.

Aer Lingus says customers whose flights are cancelled will be contacted directly.

Travel agents will also be contacted.

In a statement, the airline said: “Customers affected by these latest cancellations will have the opportunity to change their flight free of charge. They will also be able to request a refund or a voucher.”