Labour Court recommends 17.75% pay increase for Aer Lingus pilots

The Labour Court is proposing that Aer Lingus boost pilots’ pay by 17.75 per cent to mid 2026 in a bid to end a dispute that prompted the airline to cancel almost 550 flights.

Both sides have been waiting five days for the crunch ruling, which comes as members of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of trade union Fórsa, continue their industrial action at Aer Lingus.

The court recommends total pay increases of 17.75 per cent up to July 2026, backdated to January 2023, along with increases to pilots’ overnight allowances, one of the issues that the union raised.

It also proposes that the company write off a “debt” due from the pilots stemming from summer leave agreed in 2019, which was one of the dispute’s sticking points.

Both sides will have to agree to accept the proposals if the dispute is to end, as the court’s recommendations are not binding. The two sides are reviewing the document.

Capt Mark Tighe, Ialpa president, has already confirmed that the union’s members will vote on any recommendation.

Further strikes are possible at the airline should these proposals fail to break the deadlock.

Ialpa is seeking 20 per cent-plus pay rises to compensate members for inflation and argues that the difference between it and the company comes to less than €5 million a-year.

Aer Lingus says it cannot give pilots increases greater than the 12.25 per cent agreed with cabin and ground crew without their working harder in return.

Representatives of the company and Ialpa appeared before the Labour Court for more than three hours on Wednesday.

The Labour Court used powers under industrial relations law to intervene in the dispute this week following the failure of various efforts to find a solution.

Pilots have been on a work to rule for almost two weeks, while they held an eight-hour strike on Saturday June 29th, when 500 of them marched at Dublin Airport.

Aer Lingus has cancelled almost 550 flights through to Sunday July 14th in response, hitting 82,000 passengers.

Pilots have been on a work to rule for almost two weeks, while they held an eight-hour strike on Saturday June 29th, when 500 of them marched at Dublin Airport.

The airline’s agreements with ground and cabin crew allow them to lodge fresh pay claims should Aer Lingus give any other workers increases of more than 12.25 per cent that are not tied to extra productivity.