Late-night contacts between unions and senior management at Aer Lingus averted expected disruptions of a significant number of the airline's flights this morning.
Earlier in the evening the airline's intention to outsource its catering service on a transatlantic flight to Boston angered SIPTU, and a decision was made to hold a general meeting of staff at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.
The meetings, which were scheduled to take place between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., could have disrupted between 10 and 15 flights.
The immediate threat of contracting out catering services has been removed by management, according to a spokesman for SIPTU.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus could not confirm this, but stated: "We agreed to a process this morning and we are fully committed to this process."
Earlier in the evening unions and management were blaming each other for the row.
Unions claimed the airline was effectively starting a company-wide policy of outsourcing by asking Aer Rianta's catering division to handle the Dublin-Shannon-Boston flight.
The union also objected to the airline's plan to lay off a small number of Dublin-based catering staff.
The unions and management had signed up to a new facilitation process earlier in the day.
SIPTU represents over half the 4,000 staff at the airline.
The catering division of Aer Lingus is scheduled to be scaled back radically under the business plan announced a few weeks ago.
The company has emphasised that it no longer regards the catering division as a core part of its business.
However, staff in the division are very angry about the company's plans and in recent weeks a heated meeting took place at SIPTU's Dublin Airport headquarters to discuss the future of the catering division.
The atmosphere at the airline is described as tense, with unions strongly against company plans to cut staff numbers by 1,325 but management is insisting that this is a necessary part of making the airline competitive in the low-cost sector of the market.