Aer Lingus is facing legal action by a pilot suspended from its Manchester base, which the Irish airline closed on Tuesday of this week.
High Court Judge Rory Mulcahy gave Capt Ian Blair leave to serve legal proceedings on Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus UK Ltd on Wednesday.
The pilot argues that the airline had originally agreed to transfer him to Dublin Airport once it had closed the Manchester operation, but told him on Monday night that he would have to remain in the UK while disciplinary proceedings against him continued.
Aer Lingus suspended Blair in November following an incident that prompted his trade union, the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), to protest to the company at “non-flying executives” interfering in flight operations.
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A letter from the airline’s chief people officer, Tara Flynn, sent to Blair late on Monday, told him that any employee subject to an “an ongoing UK employment process, such as a disciplinary process will not transfer to Dublin when the base closes on March 31st 2026″.
Instead, the letter stated that he would remain employed by Aer Lingus, but stay based in the UK as long as the process continued.
Blair is seeking to have Aer Lingus relocate him to Dublin, which he says it had already agreed to do.
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Ialpa, which supports his legal action, argues that it was only on Monday this week, March 30th, that Aer Lingus told the union that any members subject to disciplinary proceedings in the UK would have to remain there.
The pilots’ union maintains that at no point before that date did Aer Lingus stipulate that members subject to disciplinary proceedings in the UK would have to remain there, pending their outcome, after the base closed on Tuesday.
Aer Lingus suspended Blair in early November, when cabin crew at the Manchester base had been striking for higher pay.
He flew from Barbados to Manchester in early November. There were no passengers on the flight except cabin crew who were not on flying duty, known as a “positioning crew”, who had not taken part in the strike.
He told the crew to sit in economy class after takeoff. Its manager complained directly to Aer Lingus in Dublin.
Chief operations officer Adrian Dunne contacted the aircraft mid-flight to say that the positioning crew could sit in business class.
Blair did not comply with this, but made a safety report after landing, following which management told him days later that he was suspended.
Ialpa protested as it argued that Dunne had no authority to instruct Blair on where the crew should sit.
Under aviation safety rules, the flight commander is the sole person responsible for the safety of the aircraft and everyone on board, including crew and airline staff.
Aer Lingus at the time said that the incident was the subject of an investigation and a fact-finding process, both of which it was carrying out in line with the appropriate procedures.
The decision to suspend the captain stemmed from a complaint that was the subject of the fact-finding exercise, the airline noted at the time.
A two-person panel that reviewed the incident was split over whether the incident warranted further action.
The company’s human resources department decided that there were grounds for a disciplinary proceeding.
The case is due back in court next week. Aer Lingus did not comment on Wednesday.
