Aer Lingus pilots' pay skyrockets to £1,600 for millennium holiday

Aer Lingus pilots are looking forward to a prosperous new year after the company agreed yesterday to pay some of them more than £1,600 for working over the millennium holiday.

On-duty pilots at the top of the pay scale will get £1,658 if they work at any time between 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve and 10 a.m. on New Year's Day.

The deal amounts in some cases to almost 2 per cent of pilots' gross salaries. While it does not reach the £2,000 a head offered to key staff in AIB and Eircom, it compares favourably with the £45 per hour awarded by the Labour Court to health service workers and the maximum bonus of £800 available to ESB engineers.

To avail of the maximum payment, the pilots will have to "sell back" the once-off millennium eve public holiday to which they would otherwise be entitled for a figure equivalent to 0.75 per cent of their annual salary, which at the top of the scale reaches £85,000 per annum.

Co-pilots will benefit from a similar arrangement which will net them a maximum of £975. Pilots on "overnights" on the night of December 31st will receive additional allowances.

Another seasonal offering will be a free flight ticket for relatives. This will be given to any pilot who works at any time between 10 a.m. on New Year's Eve and 11.59 p.m on New Year's Day.

IMPACT union official Mr Matt Staunton said his members were "delighted that there would be no disruption to passengers". He said the pilots had got "a fair deal for giving up their holidays to serve the travelling public".

The pilots had earlier voted by 277 votes to five in favour of industrial action in pursuit of their claim. Aer Lingus management's room for negotiation was circumscribed by the continuing shortage of pilots.

Up to 2,000 other Aer Lingus employees will receive payments ranging from £40 to a maximum of £700, along with extra concession flights for staff and immediate family members. The majority of employees will receive between £150 and £300.

The pilots' millennium pay will range from 0.45 per cent of their annual salary to 1.2 per cent. The award climbs to 1.95 per cent for pilots who "sell" their leave day back to the company for 0.75 per cent of their pay.

The pilots had to sell 10 of their annual leave days last year and their outstanding days off because of staffing levels. Union sources have said pilots could not even take their statutory leave.

Aer Lingus normally has a curtailed schedule on New Year's Eve. Ryanair has previously announced that it will cease flights at 4 p.m. on New Year's Eve and resume at noon on January 1st.