Aer Lingus has confirmed that a deal reached with union Siptu as an alternative to outsourcing will meet its target of €25 million a year in cost savings.
In a statement today, Aer Lingus welcomed the “postive outcome” of the recent Siptu ballot on the deal, which it said delivered “significant cost savings, work practice changes and pay inflation moderation”.
“The examination of the options chosen by individual staff members indicates at this point that the necessary take-ups required in each of Dublin, Cork and Shannon will be sufficient to deliver the annualised target savings of €25 million relevant to the Siptu areas of the airline."
Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said: “Crucially, this transformational programme of change will provide an excellent platform for growth at each base in the future.”
He acknowledged the cooperation, commitment and determination of management, staff and unions to deliver the deal as an alternative to outsourcing. It had planned to cut about 1,300 jobs in total, through outsourcing, voluntary redundancy and early retirement.
Aer Lingus said it would make further announcements on the progress of its cost reduction programme “shortly”.
Sources at Aer Lingus said last night the airline believed that "a significant number" of ground operation staff had opted for the leave-and-return scheme.
The success of the deal was conditional on about 50 per cent of ground operations employees, represented by Siptu, opting for the leave-and-return option.
Staff were also offered the option of leaving the company permanently under an early retirement or voluntary redundancy programme.
Siptu said the company needed 7 per cent of staff in Cork and Dublin, and 35 per cent of staff in Shannon to leave the airline permanently.
The union said Aer Lingus also required half of the remaining staff to opt for the leave-and-return scheme for it to achieve the cost savings necessary.
Aer Lingus is expected to make a formal announcement on the issue early next week following a ballot on a separate deal reached between management and the union Impact in relation to cabin crew.
Overall Aer Lingus is seeking to generate savings of about €50 million on its payroll costs.