Major airline cancels hundreds of flights to and from Britain, leading to holiday chaos

Chaos is expected for holidaymakers after a major airline cancelled hundreds of flights to and from Britain.

Just days before the peak season begins, union leaders are calling for a 24% pay rise for their members to return to work. As reported by the Mirror, the Irish Air Line Pilot’s Association (Ialpa) has confirmed that strikes will take place between July 3 and 7, affecting routes across the Irish Sea and has seen 122 Aer Lingus flights cancelled.

Dublin Airport will be hit hard by the strikes as routes to Britain have been removed from Aer Lingus’ reduced schedule. Last week, talks between Ialpa and Aer Lingus broke down before an agreement was reached on the pay settlement, with the union demanding a 24% pay rise in line with inflation.

Officials pointed to Aer Lingus’s 400% profit increase as the basis for the pay rise, but the airline has insisted the maximum it can offer is 12.25%. Anything higher would come from savings resulting from changing working conditions, according to Aer Lingus officials.

Head office Donal Moriarty says they have been “working constructively with the unions” but have canceled more than 100 flights as the dispute continues.

Chief Moriarty said: “We tried to discuss issues that could actually resolve this dispute, in particular we tried to discuss productivity, flexibility and the modernisation of our collective agreement. We advised and encouraged IALPA to revisit that mandate so that they could have within their power the normal aspect of wage negotiations.”

Aer Lingus today announced cancellations due to ongoing strikes and offered customers free flight changes or vouchers for their future travel, with refund or voucher claims available for those affected, The Sun reported. Their announcement read: “In order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the impact of the ongoing industrial action by Ialpa, Aer Lingus has had to take the step of cancelling an additional 122 flights over the course of Wednesday 3 July to Sunday 7 July inclusive).

“Making these cancellations will help us protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible. These cancellations are being implemented today and details will be communicated to affected customers.”

An Aer Lingus spokesperson added: “Aer Lingus fully understands the concerns customers are experiencing due to the uncertainty caused by the strike at Ialpa and is offering affected customers as many options as possible.” Ialpa’s official Twitter account /X has since confirmed the strike, saying workers must “protect their purchasing power.”

Their statement read: “More than 500 IALPA Aer Lingus pilots gathered at a picket outside Dublin Airport this morning during an 8-hour strike. Aer Lingus pilots deserve to have their purchasing power protected. IALPA president Captain Mark Tighe said earlier: “The company has not wavered from its statement that anything above 12.25% should be funded by pilots’ own payments through employment practices.”

We previously reported how Edinburgh Airport was hit by pandemonium on Saturday as holidaymakers were left stranded in huge queues, with some travellers reporting having to wait outside the terminal building to check in for their flights.

The airport was flooded with passengers eager to start their summer holidays, but many were frustrated and expressed their anger on social media at the long delays.

On Thursday we highlighted that several EasyJet flights were cancelled in the morning due to ‘air traffic control restrictions’. ‘The airline apologised to affected customers and offered them options to change their flights or request a refund.

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