Aer Lingus strike cancelled flights: Holiday chaos as major airline cancels over 200 flights as pilots begin industrial action

Major airline Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel 224 flights up to Sunday (30 June) as industrial action headed by the airline’s pilots continues. The airline is preparing to notify passengers today (Friday 28 June) of further flight cancellations next week after fresh talks between the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (­Ialpa) and management ended yesterday (Thursday 27 June) without any progress and with no further talks planned.

It is understood the executive of Ialpa has requested that the union’s disputes committee meet this morning to consider further strike action. The union’s executive has recommended the disputes committee consider sanctioning one additional work stoppage, longer in duration than the eight-hours planned for tomorrow (Saturday 29 June). If agreed, the union will have to give at least seven days’ notice to the airline, meaning a further work stoppage is unlikely before next Friday.

Pilots are engaged in a strict and indefinite work-to-rule and will strike for eight hours tomorrow, hitting tens of thousands of passengers. Ialpa claimed the airline had “escalated this dispute” by threatening to terminate nearly all the union’s collective agreements and preventing pilots from entering Aer Lingus passenger lounges. 

There have been ongoing negotiations between management and  Aer Lingus pilots with the two sides locked in discussions to resolve a pay dispute.

According to its chief corporate affairs officer, Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus is weighing further flight cancellations to follow the 270 services it has axed through to next Tuesday, to limit the impact of the pilots’ action on customers. He said: “We are currently assessing more cancellations out to 3rd, 4th and 5th of July.” He added that the airline would tell affected passengers as soon as it had decided which flights to drop.

The Labour Court recommended that pilots should receive pay increases of 9.25 percent under an interim settlement of the dispute, however, this was rejected by IALPA members, who were seeking a 23.8 percent hike. IALPA has claimed that previous pay offers had not reflected inflation or the sacrifices made by pilots during the pandemic, while Aer Lingus has described the IALPA ballot as entirely unnecessary.

The Irish Travel Agents Association has called for a resolution to the dispute. Angela Walsh, president of the ITAA, said: “The ITAA is urging Aer Lingus and unions to reach a resolution and avoid any disruptive strike action. Travel agents are on the frontline when strikes, cancellations and other disruptions occur and are the first port of call for customers.”

Aer Lingus is part of IAG, which also owns British Airways, Iberia and ­Vueling. It is in the process of trying to buy Spain’s Air Europa.