Aer Lingus confirmed more flight cancellations

Aer Lingus has confirmed it will cancel a further 122 flights until July 7 due to industrial action by pilots.

The airline has now canceled nearly 400 flights as a result of the work-to-rule action and unspecified strike by pilots.

Work-to-rule means not being able to work overtime or do other tasks outside of hours.

Saturday an eight-hour strike from 05:00 – 13:00 local time is planned.

Aer Lingus said that due to the “uncertain nature” of the IALPA pilot industrial action it “had to cancel” additional flights until July 7.

The disputes 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 further stoppages by Aer Lingus pilots in Ireland.

RTÉ reported that a recommendation for additional strikes was made by the IALPA on Thursday.

Talks between and Aer Lingus to resolve payment dispute broken without resolution on Thursday.

The airline issued an invitation for talks with IALPA on Wednesday after the pilots started their work rules.

IALPA has asked for a 24% pay rise for members.

Captain Mark Tighe, president of IALPA, said the 24% increase was “a cumulative inflation figure from 2019, our last pay rise”.

Talk to BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster program there, Capt Tighe said in an effort to resolve the dispute, the union has said it will receive less than rising inflation.

“We do not believe that anyone will receive less than inflation, but yesterday to solve this problem, we said that we will accept less than inflation.”

However, he added:

“We believe inflation is a reasonable statement at this time.”

On Friday, he claimed that Aer Lingus had improved the situation with the pilots.

IALPA has advised the Fórsa trade union that the additional strike should last longer than the action planned for Saturday, RTÉ has ​​reported.

If sanctioned, Fórsa must give Aer Lingus seven days’ notice before the pilot can stop working.

Aer Lingus described the potential for further strike action as “unwarranted given the request from the Labor Court this week that the dispute cannot be extended”.

Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus’s chief corporate affairs officer, said the airline was “before we go back to the Labor Court with a formal referral together”.

He said Aer Lingus had encouraged IALPA and Fórsa to “agree to this step”.

However, Captain Tighe said on Friday morning that he did not believe “at this time” that the Labor Court could resolve the dispute.

He said the union would have more news later Friday afternoon.

“The Labor Court has asked both sides not to escalate. The company has escalated and we are now in a place where we will also,” he said.

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 canceled while they were at the airport.

Teacher Luke McWatters, said Thursday’s 9:45 p.m. flight initially appeared to be delayed, then, more than two hours after the flight was originally scheduled to take off, he was told it had been cancelled.

“Trying to call Aer Lingus, I had three different calls to three different agents, who each time I got to a certain road, saying: ‘Because you are a group, we can’t do anything for you – you have to contact the Aer Lingus group who don’t open until 9am.

Mr McWatters told the BBC’s Evening Extra program that he felt they had been “left high and dry”, with no offer of accommodation or food.

He said the group slept on the airport floor.

Mr McWatters said he was offered an alternative flight on July 1.

“At that stage, we called to try other airlines and split ourselves into groups,” he said.

Half of the group traveled to Edinburgh, while the other half caught flights to Poland, with both groups booked to return to Ireland on Friday.

Mr McWatters said support for Aer Lingus “falls far short of what we would expect from a major airline dealing with children”.

The BBC has contacted Aer Lingus for a response.

The number of flights canceled so far due to current industrial action, Aer Lingus said, is 270.

All Aer Lingus UK regional flights, operated by Emerald Airlines, and Aer Lingus UK transatlantic flights to and from Manchester will operate as scheduled.

A full list of canceled flights can be found on the airline’s website.

In a statement on Thursday, Aer Lingus said that tomorrow’s eight-hour strike action by pilots “will be an opportune time for IALPA to meet with pilots to adjust IALPA’s mandate to engage in meaningful negotiations that can resolve this dispute”.

Co-pilots can start at €36,000 (£30,400), with packages increasing based on actual flying hours.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ has ​​reported that a captain at the top of the scale can be paid around €287,000 (£242,000).

Captain Mark Tighe explained on Thursday that this could take up to 26 years.

There are differences for pilots depending on whether the flight is short or long.

The airline said passengers with flights booked until July 7 have several options available.

Aer Lingus will contact passengers whose flights have been canceled directly by SMS, email or through a travel agent to advise them of their options.

These options include changing the date of your booking for free, applying for a refund voucher for future travel or a full refund of the cost of your flight.

If passengers are scheduled to travel until July 7 but the flight has not been canceled, they can also change their booking for free or request a refund voucher for future travel.

“We understand the frustration you must be feeling right now. Our team is working hard to minimize disruption as much as possible,” Aer Lingus said.