Image source, Getty Images
Aer Lingus has confirmed that a further 122 flights will be canceled until July 7 due to the ongoing pilot strikes.
The airline has now canceled almost 400 flights due to an indefinite work-to-governance and strike action by pilots.
The work-to-rule means that you do not work overtime or perform other tasks outside office hours.
An eight-hour strike, from 5am to 1pm local time, is planned for Saturday.
Aer Lingus said that due to the “indeterminate nature” of the strike action by IALPA pilots, it must “cancel additional flights up to and including July 7”.
The dispute committee of Fórsa, the parent union of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (IALPA), is expected to meet on Friday to decide whether to give the green light to a further work stoppage for Aer Lingus pilots in Ireland.
RTÉ reports that the recommendation for an additional strike was made by IALPA on Thursday.
The airline issued an invitation for talks with IALPA on Wednesday after pilots began their work to govern.
‘Demand for a fair wage’
IALPA called for a 24% wage increase for its members.
Captain Mark Tighe, chairman of IALPA, said the 24% increase is a “cumulative inflation rate from 2019, our last pay increase”.
Speaking on BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster program on Friday, Captain Tighe said the union, in an attempt to resolve the dispute, had said it would accept less than an inflation increase.
“We don’t believe that anyone should get less than inflation, but yesterday, in an attempt to resolve this, we said we would accept less than inflation.”
However, he added: “We believe that inflation is a very reasonable claim in these current times.”
On Friday he claimed that Aer Lingus escalated the situation with the pilots.
Additional strike action?
IALPA has recommended to the Fórsa union that the additional strike should last longer than the action planned for Saturday, RTÉ reports.
If Fórsa is sanctioned, it must give Aer Lingus seven days’ notice before the pilots can stop work.
Aer Lingus has described the possibility of further strike action as “completely inappropriate given the request by the Employment Tribunal this week that the dispute should not be allowed to escalate”.
Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus’ chief corporate affairs officer, said the airline “is prepared to return to the Employment Tribunal on a formal joint reference”.
He said Aer Lingus has encouraged IALPA and Fórsa to “agree to this step”.
However, Captain Tighe said Friday morning that “at this time” he does not believe the Labor Court can resolve the dispute.
He said the union would provide further news mid-afternoon on Friday.
“The Labour Court has asked both parties not to escalate. The company has escalated and we are now at a point where we will be,” he said.
Image source, Luke McWatters
A group of students and teachers from Shimna Integrated School in County Down, who were returning from a trip to Berlin, had their flight home cancelled while they were at the airport.
Teacher Luke McWatters said their 9:45 p.m. Thursday flight was initially considered delayed, but more than two hours after the flight was scheduled to depart, they were told it had been canceled.
“When I tried to call Aer Lingus, I had three different conversations with three different agents. Every time I got through in one way or another, they said, ‘Because you’re a group, we can’t do anything for you. You’ll have to contact Aer Lingus, which doesn’t open until 9am’.”
Mr McWatters told the BBC’s Evening Extra programme he felt they had been left “high and dry” with no offer of shelter or food.
He said the group slept on the airport floor.
Mr McWatters said they were offered an alternative flight on July 1.
“At that stage we decided to try other airlines and split ourselves as a group,” he added.
Half of the group traveled to Edinburgh, while the other half took a flight to Poland. Both groups had booked flights back to Ireland for Friday.
Mr McWatters said support for Aer Lingus fell “well short of what you would expect from a major airline dealing with children”.
The BBC has contacted Aer Lingus for comment.
How many Aer Lingus flights have been cancelled?
All Aer Lingus UK regional flights operated by Emerald Airlines and Aer Lingus UK transatlantic flights to and from Manchester are operating as scheduled.
A full list of canceled flights can be found on the airline’s website.
Aer Lingus said in a statement Thursday that Friday’s eight-hour pilot strike “would be an opportune time for IALPA to meet with pilots and adjust IALPA’s mandate so that meaningful negotiations can be held to resolve this dispute release”.
How much are Aer Lingus pilots paid?
Co-pilot prices start at around €36,000 (£30,400), with prices increasing based on actual flying hours.
According to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, a captain at the top of the scale can earn around €287,000 (£242,000).
Captain Mark Tighe explained on Thursday that this could take up to 26 years.
For pilots, there are differences depending on whether the flights are short or long.
What should I do if my Aer Lingus flight is cancelled?
The airline has said that passengers with flights booked until July 7 have a number of options available.
Aer Lingus will contact passengers whose flights have been cancelled directly by text message, email or through their travel agent to inform them of their options.
These options include changing the date of your booking free of charge, requesting a refund voucher for future travel or a refund of the full value of your flight.
If a passenger has a trip planned through July 7, but the flight has not been canceled, he/she can also change the booking free of charge or request a refund voucher for future travel.
“We understand the frustration you must be feeling right now. Our teams are working hard to minimize disruption as much as possible,” Aer Lingus said.