Aer Lingus in last ditch talks to avoid strike tomorrow

Aer Lingus is in last ditch talks with pilot unions to avoid being hit by strike action tomorrow.

If it goes ahead, the strike would impact up to 30,000 passengers.

The airline said thousands of customers had already cancelled or changed their flights.

It is allowing passengers booked to travel from tomorrow until Friday to change their flight free of charge.

In a message to customers, it said: "We realise that this is extremely disruptive for our customers and we apologise most sincerely for the major inconvenience this may cause."

The Pilot Trade Union IALPA/IMPACT is threatening to strike over a shortage of pilots in the company.

The union claims that last summer's work rosters were chaotic and that pilots were regularly forced to work six out of seven days.

Aer Lingus claimed it hired agency staff to make up numbers and claims pilots are objecting to new regulations relating to their holiday entitlements and the notice they are given about future working hours.

Talks between the two parties collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning but yesterday the airline's management and pilots agreed to attend the Labour Relations Commission.

If they fail to reach an agreement, pilots based in Cork and Dublin will report an hour late for duty tomorrow and will refuse to work on rostered free days or annual leave days.

Aer Lingus said services from Belfast International Airport, its Washington-Madrid service and regional flights in the UK would not be affected.

With permission from Travelmole

Aer Lingus strike called off

This week's industrial action by Aer Lingus pilots has now been called off, following talks which continued throughout last night and this morning at the Labour Relations Commission in Dublin.

Aer Lingus now expects to restore and maintain a full schedule this week. Passengers who had already changed their flight reservations to avoid the strike action may now change them back to the original dates free of charge if they wish.

David

British Airways merger with Aer Lingus on the cards

British Airways is being tipped as a possible partner for Aer Lingus after the Irish government and Ryanair indicated they were both willing to sell their stakes in the Irish flag carrier.

The Irish government is expected to announce later today that it will dispose of its 25% stake in Aer Lingus and, according to a report in The Times, Ryanair has confirmed that it will sell its 29.8% shareholding.

Ryanair has attempted to buy Aer Lingus outright twice over the past five years, but it has been blocked by European competition commissioners and the value of its stake has fallen by more than €300m to about €100m, according to The Times.

The budget carrier was quoted saying that if another strong airline or investor acquired the government's share, it would not rule out entering into discussions with that party "for the subsequent disposal of Ryanair's near-30% stake".

BA's parent IAG has already stated that it wants to lead consolidation in Europe and chief executive Willie Walsh was previously head of Aer Lingus, which is the fourth largest airline at Heathrow where it holds 3% of all take-off and landing slots.

With permission from Travelmole