Aer Lingus travel chaos: Airline cancels flights from UK to Ireland as pilots announce strike

Aer Lingus has accused its pilots of inflicting 'as much pain as possible' on passengers by declaring an eight-hour strike next Saturday, in a major escalation of the pay dispute.

The airline yesterday announced the cancellation of 124 flights – with more expected – over the first five days of the indefinite work-to-rule protest, which starts on Wednesday.

It said the cancellations will affect up to 20,000 passengers, but this was at the lower range of the 10 to 20% of cuts it said it was forced to make.

Under the work-to-rule action, members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) will refuse to work overtime or beyond their contract hours.

The IALPA said cancelling up to 20% of flights, because its members will not come in on their days off, raises serious questions about the management of the airline. Further disruption for holidaymakers was announced yesterday when the union confirmed it will not fly from 5am to 1pm on Saturday, June 29, after claiming Aer Lingus had escalated the dispute over pay.

IALPA president Captain Mark Tighe said: 'We have been forced to escalate this dispute following a campaign of antagonism by Aer Lingus management directed toward our members.

'Rather than meeting with IALPA for direct negotiations to resolve this dispute, the airline is sending letters to IALPA threatening to cut members' terms and conditions by unilaterally terminating collective agreements.

'Aer Lingus's legal representatives have also written to each member of the IALPA executive committee this week, in their personal capacities, threatening to issue proceedings in the High Court for alleged unlawful conduct regarding an alleged increase in pilot absence due to illness.

'IALPA refutes this allegation in the strongest terms.'

Captain Tighe, who has flown with Aer Lingus for more than 30 years, added: 'Aer Lingus has not sought any meetings since the notice of work-to-rule was served earlier this week.

'The company has made no effort to negotiate a settlement to avert action commencing on Wednesday.'

IALPA members rejected a Labour Court recommendation last week, stating that pilots should receive pay increases totalling 9.25% as part of an interim settlement.

However, the sum is significantly lower than the 23.8% Aer Lingus pilots are seeking.

Following the decision to declare a full-scale strike, Donal Moriarty of Aer Lingus described the move as a 'disgraceful escalation' of the industrial action.

'It's quite clear that IALPA have total disregard for Aer Lingus customers and for the travelling public as they set off on their summer holidays,' he told RTÉ News.

'This is a very deliberate escalation by IALPA in order to inconvenience as many customers as they possibly can.'

He added the legal letter sent to the union was regarding a 'significant spike' in sickness among pilots in the last number of months. He continued: 'Aer Lingus has had to cancel 56 flights since the start of the year because of short-notice pilot sickness. Last weekend alone we had to cancel 14 flights because of short-notice pilot sickness. We simply wrote to IALPA to explain that.'

Mr Moriarty also said Aer Lingus is willing to enter discussions with the union this weekend, but claimed the IALPA is refusing to enter the Labour Court and Workplace Relations Commission.

The 124 cancelled journeys so far include short-haul flights from Dublin to Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Lyons, Berlin, Birmingham, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Manchester, Munich and Vienna, along with flights from Cork to Heathrow.

Long-haul flights from Dublin to New York JFK are also impacted.

The company stated that these cancelled flights alone will impact approximately 4,000 customers per day and 20,000 over the course of the five days.

'The level of cancellations is currently at the lower end of the 10-20% range. However, given the form of the industrial action, there may be additional cancellations which happen close to the time of travel,' Aer Lingus stated.

On Thursday, Simon Harris accused the union officials of using children as pawns in the dispute. The Taoiseach said: 'The idea that passengers – children due to go on their summer holiday – would be used as pawns in an industrial relations dispute that has already been considered by the Labour Court is utterly reprehensible, and people need to step back from the brink.'

Niall Shanahan of Fórsa, which is the umbrella union of the IALPA, told the Irish Daily Mail Mr Harris's comments were 'very inflammatory'.

'To be accused of treating children as pawns is a little beyond the pale,' he said.