AER LINGUS plans to apply for an Airline Operators Certificate (AOC) in the UK, a move that would allow it to move its aircraft from Ireland to Britain if pilots and other staff do not sign up to its radical restructuring plan unveiled yesterday.
"That option is always there," finance director Seán Coyle said yesterday. Mr Coyle said Aer Lingus would apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for a British operators licence shortly and expected to receive it within three to six months.
This would involve Aer Lingus setting up a UK-based subsidiary licensed to fly from Britain. This would allow it to add non-EU routes to its Belfast and London Gatwick bases by negotiating bilateral agreements with the countries involved.
At present, Aer Lingus is confined to flying EU routes only from its UK bases using its licence from the Irish Aviation Authority. "It would give us the capacity to operate outside the EU from the UK," said Mr Coyle.
"It also allows us to ringfence extremely good terms and conditions with existing Belfast and Gatwick crews," he added. Mr Coyle said its pilots and cabin crew based in Belfast and Gatwick were "40 to 50 per cent cheaper" than their counterparts in Dublin, Shannon or Cork.
Aer Lingus yesterday unveiled plans to cut 676 jobs through voluntary redundancies by the end of 2011 to save €97 million annually. This is to include 100 pilot redundancies.
By having an AOC from the UK, in the event of a strike, Aer Lingus might switch aircraft from Ireland to Britain and operate routes in and out of this country from there. Alternatively, it might axe loss-making Irish routes and switch the planes to new services from Belfast or Gatwick.
Aer Lingus wants to agree its restructuring plan within six weeks. If no deal is reached, the airline has warned it will close loss-making routes, sell aircraft and implement compulsory redundancies.
The airline is expected to lose up to €150 million this year and more than €100 million in 2010, as passenger numbers fall and fares contract. Trade unions described the plan as “extreme and draconian”.
Siptu national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack said staff who had already undergone a radical cost reduction programme last year "would not do it twice".
He said last year the union had agreed a plan including major work practice changes for 1,300 ground operation staff and it would not be revisiting this agreement. Siptu is to convene a national meeting of shop stewards at Aer Lingus to consider a response to the company plan.