Pilots' vote puts Aer Lingus back in the skies

Grounded Aer Lingus flights will be back in service this afternoon after pilots last night voted in favour of Labour Relations…

Grounded Aer Lingus flights will be back in service this afternoon after pilots last night voted in favour of Labour Relations Commission (LRC) recommendations on new roster arrangements.

A company statement late last night said a partial service would resume at 1 p.m., with full services resuming tomorrow.

"We are now taking bookings for all our flights from early morning. With the exception of transatlantic flights, all flights to Europe and the UK scheduled to depart after 1 p.m on Tuesday will operate as normal," the statement said.

The Bank Holiday weekend was blighted for more than 100,000 passengers, stranded as pilots and management at the national airline faced each other in a stand-off over new rosters required under a plan to maintain the financial viability of the company.

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But last night, after a show of hands, the majority of pilots voted in favour of the LRC proposals which had been accepted by management on Sunday.

A one-day strike by all 530 Aer Lingus pilots on Thursday led to Aer Lingus management cancelling all services for the weekend.

Pilots were prevented from resuming their work the following day and taken off the payroll. Some were officially suspended from duty.

But with the future of the loss-making airline under threat, and warnings that Irish tourism and industry were being hit by the crisis, pilots accepted the deal brokered on Sunday by the Labour Relations Commission.

The pilots accepted union advice, with most of the 400 present at the meeting at Dublin Airport, agreeing to the proposals which guarantee them rest periods of 12 hours or the equivalent of their last shift plus two hours.

Only in exceptional circumstances can the airline call on pilots to work with just 10 hours rest between shifts, and then only six times a year. There are further proposals on days off, early duty and rest periods on transatlantic flights.

In return pilots must agree to abide by a company survival plan, established in the wake of massive financial losses following the September 11th attacks and a downturn in the aviation industry.

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Aer Lingus is satisfied that the Survival Plan can now be implemented in full and that we can move ahead to secure the viability of the airline.
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Aer Lingus

A spokesman for the trade union IMPACT said last night: "A show of hands was enough to demonstrate that members were prepared to accept the proposals. I think what is likely to happen now is that there will be some flights tomorrow, probably in the afternoon.

"Aer Lingus will then have to get other aircraft to the correct locations and we would expect a full service by Wednesday."

Earlier, the IMPACT-affiliated committee of the Irish Airline Pilots Association recommended the new deal to pilots.

October's survival plan saw more than 2,200 people take redundancy. The airline lost an estimated €90 million last year and is expected to lose at least €130 million this year.

The company's late night statement said: "Aer Lingus is satisfied that the Survival Plan can now be implemented in full and that we can move ahead to secure the viability of the airline."

Additional reporting PA