AER LINGUS pilots based in Belfast are to vote on proposals to avert a planned work-to-rule planned to begin on Friday.
The pilots, members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association branch of the Impact trade union, are in dispute with the company over alleged differences in working conditions compared with those based at airports in the Republic and at London Gatwick.
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman said yesterday that agreement had been reached with the union at the Labour Relations Commission to resolve issues at the Belfast and Gatwick bases. This would be put to association members this week, she said. “No disruption is anticipated. The threat of industrial action has been removed.”
A statement to this effect was posted on aerlingus.com. “Customers who have already changed bookings to another date may change back to their original planned date of travel if they so wish via aerlingus.com,” it said.
“Aer Lingus apologises to its customers for the inconvenience caused to them by the recent uncertainty over our scheduled operations.”
The dispute involves some two dozen Impact-member pilots in Belfast. Impact official Michael Landers said: “In terms of Belfast, we have received an offer that falls somewhat short of our expectations. We will be putting that offer to our members in Belfast to get their opinion on it. We won’t be giving them a recommendation on it one way or another.”
Members based in Belfast were less-well-paid than their equivalents in Dublin, Cork and Gatwick, he said, and this had led to a shortage of pilots in Belfast.
He told the BBC: “Our research shows that they are paying less in Belfast than competitor airlines are paying, and that has led to a considerable outflow of pilots in Belfast. At the moment, they are short of about eight pilots in Belfast, which means that pilots from Dublin are operating out of Belfast every single day of the week.”