Aer Lingus: More flights cancelled because of pilot pay dispute – BBC News

Updated 48 minutes ago

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

The executive of IALPA met Wednesday and is recommending members accept a Labour Court proposal to increase pilots’ pay by 17.75%.

There have been hundreds of flights cancelled so far because of strike action last month and a work-to-rule which began two weeks ago, as part of a long-running dispute over pay involving members of the association.

On Monday, the Labour Court recommended a 17.75% pay increase for pilots over a four-year period.

The court recommended that the increase be awarded as follows:

Following a meeting on Wednesday evening, the IALPA executive has voted to recommend accepting the Labour Court’s recommendation.

In a statement, the IALPA said the pilot body will “move immediately to suspend ongoing work-to-rule action, in place since 26 June, pending the outcome of a ballot”.

The union said it will hold a series of engagements with members before a ballot on the terms of the Labour Court recommendation in the coming weeks.

IALPA president Mark Tighe has described the pay increase provided for in the recommendation as a “significant win for pilots”.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Aer Lingus said it welcomed Fórsa and IALPA’s “recommendation of acceptance of the Labour Court recommendation and its decision to discontinue the industrial action”.

“We look forward to IALPA completing the balloting process as soon as possible.”

The Labour Court recommendation also proposes the ending of 2022 pay scales, the scrapping of a crewing agreement on rostering and summer leave, and the termination of a debt owed by pilots to the company as part of that agreement.

Aer Lingus announced on Wednesday it is cancelling 25 more flights due to industrial action by pilots.

The cancellations are for Monday 15 July and Tuesday 16 July.

The airline said it expects to announce further cancellations on Thursday morning and that details of the cancelled flights can 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, it said: “Customers affected by these latest cancellations will be given the option to change their flights for free. They will also be able to claim a refund or voucher”.