Aer Lingus confirms further flight cancellations

Updated 38 minutes ago

Aer Lingus has confirmed that a further 122 flights will be cancelled until July 7 due to the ongoing pilots’ strike.

Due to an indefinite work-to-rule and pilot strike, the airline has now cancelled almost 400 flights.

Working to the rule means that no overtime or other work may be done outside of working hours.

An eight-hour strike is planned for Saturday from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. local time.

Aer Lingus said that due to the “indefinite nature” of the industrial action by Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association pilots, additional flights would have to be cancelled until July 7.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that IALPA had recommended another strike on Thursday.

However, on Friday afternoon, union leader Capt. Mark Tighe said the Irish Labour Court had ordered both parties to appear in court again on Monday afternoon.

“We are discussing this at the moment and it will obviously have an impact on whether we extend the industrial action or not,” he told Radio Ulster’s “Evening Extra” programme.

“I hope they have now realised the seriousness of the situation and can apply their considerable expertise.”

A group of pupils and teachers from Shimna Integrated School in County Down who were returning from a trip to Berlin had their flight home cancelled at the airport.

Teacher Luke McWatters said their flight was initially shown as delayed at 9.45pm on Thursday and then, more than two hours after its originally scheduled departure, they were told the flight had been cancelled.

“When I tried to call Aer Lingus, I spoke to three different people on three different calls and each time I got through to a certain point I was told, ‘As you are a group, we cannot do anything for you – you will need to contact the Aer Lingus group branch, which does not open until 9am.'”

Mr McWatters told the BBC’s Evening Extra that he felt they had been “abandoned” without being offered accommodation or food.

He said the group slept on the floor of the airport.

Mr McWatters said they had been offered an alternative flight on July 1.

“At that point, we decided to try other airlines and split up as a group,” he added.

Half of the group travelled to Edinburgh, while the other half took a flight to Poland. Both groups had booked a return flight to Ireland for Friday.

Mr McWatters said the support for Aer Lingus was “far below what you would expect from a major airline in its treatment of children”.

The BBC has asked Aer Lingus for a response.

Captain Tighe said: “As pilots, we care deeply about our passengers. It is not management who meets with them, we meet with them every day.”

“We are in a situation where our salaries are being cut and we are just trying to maintain our salaries.”

The IALPA had demanded a 24% salary increase for its members.

Captain Tighe said the 24% increase was a “cumulative inflation rate since 2019, our last pay increase.”

He also said that the union would not accept a rate lower than inflation.

IALPA had recommended to the Fórsa union that the additional strike last longer than the action planned for Saturday, RTÉ reported.

In the event of a sanction, Fórsa Aer Lingus must give a notice period of seven days before the pilots can stop working.

Aer Lingus described the possibility of further strike action as “totally inappropriate given the Industrial Court’s request this week not to escalate the dispute”.

Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus’ chief corporate affairs officer, said the airline was “prepared to re-apply to the employment tribunal on the basis of a formal joint referral”.

He said Aer Lingus had encouraged IALPA and Fórsa “to agree to this step”.

All Aer Lingus UK regional flights operated by Emerald Airlines and transatlantic flights to and from Manchester will operate as planned.

A full list of cancelled flights can be found on the airline’s website.

Co-pilots can start on a starting salary of around €36,000 (£30,400), with packages increasing depending on actual flying hours.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that a captain at the top end of the salary scale can earn around €287,000 (£242,000).

Captain Mark Tighe said on Thursday that this could take up to 26 years.

For pilots, there are differences depending on whether the flight is short or long-haul.

The airline said passengers who have booked flights through July 7 have several options available.

Aer Lingus will contact passengers whose flights have been cancelled directly by SMS, email or through their travel agent to inform them of their options.

These options include changing your booking date for free, requesting a refund voucher for future travel, or a full refund of your flight.

If a passenger was planning to travel by July 7 but their flight was not cancelled, they can also change their booking free of charge or request a refund voucher for a future trip.

“We understand the frustration you must be feeling at the moment. Our teams are working hard to minimise disruption as much as possible,” Aer Lingus said.