Aer Lingus cancels further 170+ flights this week due to pilots' action
James ChappleAer Lingus has cancelled another more than 170 flights this week (1-7 July) owing to an ongoing period of "indefinite" industrial action, short of a full strike, by its Irish pilots.
Aer Lingus members of the Irish Airline Pilots Association (Ialpa) have twice voted in favour of action up to and include strikes, whereby the union served notice on Aer Lingus.
The action, in the form of a strict work-to-rule policy, got under way on Wednesday (26 June). It means Ialpa’s Aer Lingus members won’t work overtime or beyond their contracted hours.
They also embarked on an eight-hour walkout on Saturday (29 June) from 5am to 1pm, forcing further pre-emptive cancellations.
Despite a fresh round of talks due to take place on Monday (1 July), Aer Lingus has cancelled another 172 flights departing Ireland, the UK, Europe and North America, bringing total cancellations owing to the strike so far to more than 400.
Ahead of the action, the airline said it anticipated having to cancel between 10% to 20% of its schedule. The Irish Travel Agents’ Association (ITAA) has repeatedly called for a resolution.
Ialpa’s Aer Lingus members are in dispute with their employer over pay, with the union seeking a more than 20% pay uplift. A offer worth around 9% was turned down earlier this year.
Only Aer Lingus pilots employed in Ireland are involved in the dispute. "All Aer Lingus Regional flights (operated by Emerald Airlines) and Aer Lingus UK transatlantic flights to and from Manchester will operate as scheduled," the airline stressed last week.
Aer Lingus, while acknowledging the "major disruption" the dispute was causing passengers, said the latest cancellations were made with a view to protecting the largest number of services possible."
"We plan to operate the majority of our schedule and have taken steps to minimise disruption," said the carrier.
Passengers are being alerted directly by text and/or email, or via their travel agent.
The majority of the new cancellations – more than half – affect Aer Lingus’s ex-Ireland network, followed then by its flights departing European destinations and then UK destinations, with the smallest effect on its North American departures.
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