Aer Lingus expects there will be no disruption to scheduled flights over the weekend despite a work-to-rule by cabin crew. Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent, reports.
Holidaymakers booked on a charter flight from Cork to Las Palmas tonight, however, will have their departure delayed by a day because of the action by members of IMPACT.
Two scheduled flights to London City yesterday had to be transferred to Heathrow, but otherwise there was no disruption to services, the airline said.
Talks aimed at resolving the dispute ended yesterday without agreement.
The row concerns work practice changes sought by the company in return for a 4 per cent pay increase due under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. Payment of a further 3 per cent rise due in July under Sustaining Progress has also been delayed by the dispute.
More than 1,000 IMPACT cabin crew began a work-to-rule on September 1st in protest at the company's refusal to pay them the increases.
Other Aer Lingus staff, including cabin crew members of SIPTU, have accepted the work practice changes and received the pay rises in return.
IMPACT members escalated their work-to-rule on Thursday. This caused yesterday's disruption to services from Dublin to London City. Two other flights on the same route also had to be transferred to Heathrow on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the airline said no further disruption to scheduled flights was expected until Tuesday, when services to London City are likely to be affected again. In the meantime the company is advising all passengers to turn up for flights as normal.
Twelve charter flights due to depart over the weekend were also liable to be affected, but alternative planes have been sourced for these following discussions between the airline and the tour operators. A spokeswoman said 11 of the flights would leave within hours before or after the scheduled times, the exception being the Cork-Las Palmas flight.