Aer Lingus cancels 122 more flights next week; Labour Court invites both sides to meeting on Monday in fresh bid to resolve row

An invitation was dispatched to the airline and Ialpa’s parent union Fórsa to attend Lansdowne House at 2.30pm within the last hour.

The move may give fresh hope to passengers that talks will restart in a bid to resolve the row over pilots’ pay following the court’s assessment of the dispute.

The court asked the parties last week not to ramp up the dispute ahead of its decision to reassess the situation on Monday.

It comes after Aer Lingus said it is forced to cancel a further 122 flights next week as a result of the ongoing industrial action by pilots.

The cancelled flights are from Wednesday, July 3 to Sunday, July 7.

The airline said it was taking the step in order to continue to protect as many services as possible.

“In order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the impact of Ialpa’s continuing industrial action, Aer Lingus has had to take the step of cancelling 122 additional flights over the course of Wednesday 3rd July to Sunday 7th July (inclusive),” it said in a statement.

“Implementing these cancellations is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible. These cancellations will be implemented today, and details will be communicated to impacted customers.

“Details of the services impacted are set out on the ‘Travel Advisory’ page of aerlingus.com.”

It said customers affected by the latest cancellations will be given the option to change their flights for free. They will also be able to claim a refund or voucher.

“These options will be communicated directly to impacted customers as well as travel agents, while the Aer Lingus ‘Travel Advisory’ page will also have up to the minute information on all the options,” the airline said.

“Aer Lingus fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by Ialpa’s industrial action and is giving impacted customers as many options as possible.”

It comes as the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) warned it may seek to stage further strike days as it continues a strict work-to-rule.

With Aer Lingus pilots set to strike for eight hours tomorrow, the union said chances of an additional strike and further industrial action are high after talks in the long-running dispute over pay broke down on Thursday.

Representatives of the pilots’ union are meeting today and will confirm their plans later.

Ialpa president Mark Tighe said: “We are in a process within our executive and our union where we are considering an escalation in industrial action because the company have informed us that if we don’t agree to work practice changes, they’re simply going to do away with our work practices,” he told BBC Good Morning Ulster show.

“The company have escalated, so I would expect there would be some sort of escalation in response,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent revealed the size of the pensions available to retiring pilots.

Aer Lingus pilots can look forward to retiring on pensions of up to €90,000 a year, depending on service, with almost all of them ending up with pension pots worth more than €2m.

Pilots at unions across the United States and Britain have rowed in behind their colleagues at Aer Lingus.

International pilot unions have expressed solidarity with the Aer Lingus pilots as they push for a near 24pc pay rise – almost twice that which the airline has offered.

Allied Pilots, which represents the 16,000 pilots at American Airlines, is among those to offer its “steadfast” support for the Aer Lingus pilots.

“On behalf of the 16,000 American Airlines pilots the Allied Pilots’ Association (APA) represents, I am proud to pledge our steadfast support for the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association’s efforts to conclude CLA [Collective Labour Agreement] negotiations with Aer Lingus management,” said APA president, Captain Ed Sicher.

He added: “APA has a longstanding history of standing shoulder to shoulder with our Irish brother and sister pilots.”

Mr Sicher said that like other pilots across the world, Aer Lingus pilots sacrificed to help Aer Lingus navigate the challenges of the global pandemic.

“Now, in response to the union’s calls to normalise pilot salaries to account for the increased cost of living, Aer Lingus management have instead chose to employ whipsaw tactics and threaten legal proceedings,” he said in an open letter. “Management’s use of traditional strong-arm tactics such as pressurising pilots to fly when whey have declared themselves not fit to do so poses a safety threat.”

Mr Sicher said the US pilot union stands ready to “share our knowledge and experience” with Ialpa.

Balpa, the union which represents pilots in the UK, said it “stands firm” with colleagues at Aer Lingus.

“We urge all members to show support and solidarity with their colleagues at Ialpa,” it said.

Balpa’s general secretary, Amy Leversidge, said that the union has “great concern” about the pilot dispute at Aer Lingus.

“We strongly believe that the worldwide pilot community is here to support each other, especially in challenging times,” she said in a statement. “Be sure we all stand in solidarity with Aer Lingus pilots.”

The 17,000-strong pilot union at US carrier Delta has also shown its support for Aer Lingus counterparts in advance of Saturday’s strike.

“Please make the walk and ensure that no Aer Lingus pilots are having difficulties getting on their flights,” the union said in a post on X.

The US-based Airline Pilots’ Association, the umbrella group representing 78,000 pilots at 41 IS and Canadian airlines, has also backed the pilots at the Irish carrier.

This week, the union’s president, Captain Jason Ambrosi, said that it offers “unwavering support” to Ialpa’s pilots at Aer Lingus, “as they continue fighting for a new agreement with a notoriously anti-union airline”.

“Aer Lingus management needs to reach a fair and equitable agreement with them now!” he said in an online post.

US pilot unions were vociferous during 2017 in their support of pilots at Ryanair who were pushing for better pay, and eventually, unionisation.

The Allied Pilots’ Association took out a full-page advert in Ireland in September that year imploring Ryanair group CEO Michael O’Leary to “rethink his approach” in dealing with the airline’s cockpit crews, “because an airline won’t get very far without its pilots”.

The Allied Pilots’ Association had been preparing to send up to 350 US pilots to Dublin to picket the Ryanair annual general meeting that month.

But the challenging logistics of arranging the visit at short notice meant it did not happen.

In a statement yesterday, Aer Lingus said: “We note the intention of Ialpa to consider further strike action and to request Forsa’s approval of such action. Aer Lingus believes this would be entirely inappropriate, given the request of the Labour Court this week that the dispute should not be escalated.”

Aer Lingus pilots can retire on a full pension from the age of 60, but can keep working until they are 65 if they choose

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent can reveal the size of the pensions available to retiring pilots. Virtually all them at Aer Lingus will retire with pension pots of more than €2m, and captains with long service will typically have about €90,000 a year after they finally hang up their uniforms.

Their pension fund promises pilots a retirement income of half the salary they were on when they reached a €2m threshold that exists under pension rules.

Pilots are engaged in a strict and indefinite work-to-rule and will strike for eight hours tomorrow, hitting tens of thousands of passengers. The airline has already been forced to cancel 224 flights up to Sunday.

Aer Lingus pilots can retire on a full pension from the age of 60, but can keep working until they are 65 if they choose.

They can also receive a tax-free lump sum equivalent to one-and-a-half times their salary on retirement – the same as with any occupational pension scheme.

Under pension rules, a worker’s pension can amass a total pension fund of up to €2m and still avail of generous tax benefits, including their income on retirement from the fund being taxed at just 20pc. However, if they breach that €2m threshold, the excess is charged at a 40pc rate of tax.

At Aer Lingus, the company pays a 21pc contribution to a pilot’s pension, with the pilot contributing 11pc of their pay.

Pilots who joined Aer Lingus as cad­ets will usually have a pension fund that exceeds €2m by the time they are in their mid-40s.

After that, they cease making the 11pc contribution to their pension, but the airline keeps making a 21pc contribution to the Irish Airline Pilots’ Superannuation Scheme, which has hundreds of retired pilots it already pays pensions to.

A captain’s basic salary by their mid-40s would typically be about €180,000, although they earn significantly more when various allowances and the pension contribution made by the airline is factored in.

But as their pension at retirement is based on half the basic salary they are on when their own pension fund hits the €2m level, they would get half the €180,000, for example, equating to €90,000 a year. A number of sources have confirmed that the vast majority of pilots at Aer Lingus will have hit the €2m pension threshold by the time they retire.

As the financial crisis of more than a decade ago pummelled the Irish economy, Aer Lingus sought to close down all its defined benefit pension schemes and replace them with defined contribution schemes. It succeeded in doing so with all but the pilots, who remain on a lucrative defined benefit scheme.

Leaving the talks yesterday, 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.

The discussions did not progress to a point where a resolution could be reached

The union confirmed in a statement and on a call with investors it is willing to lower its 24pc pay demand. However, it is understood the lower pay demand would still be in the region of 22pc.

Aer Lingus has indicated it is willing to make a joint referral with the union to the Labour Court for its assistance in resolving the dispute.

“The discussions did not progress to a point where a resolution could be reached and they were ended by Ialpa,” said the airline. “Ialpa indicated that it did not have a mandate from its members to discuss productivity and flexibility – matters which are essential in any pay negotiations.”

Ialpa said Aer Lingus management continues to refuse to move beyond a 12.25pc pay increase the airline proposes unless pilots agree to flexibility and productivity changes.

“Ialpa will continue to be available to talk with Aer Lingus in good faith,” the union noted. “However, it is incumbent on the airline to change their position.”

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.