Aer Lingus cancels 76 additional flights

Aer Lingus and the union representing its pilots are to meet at the Labour Court on this afternoon, following the announcement that 76 further flights are to be cancelled.

The meeting at the industrial dispute body is the latest attempt to bring the two sides together to hammer out a resolution.

“In order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the continuing and highly disruptive impact of IALPA’s continuing industrial action, Aer Lingus has had to take the step of cancelling 76 additional flights over the course of Monday 8th July to Wednesday 10th July (inclusive)," a statement from the airline said.

"Implementing these cancellations is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible. These cancellations will be implemented today, and details will be communicated to impacted customers. Details of the services impacted are set out on the ‘Travel Advisory’ page of aerlingus.com.

"Customers impacted by these latest cancellations between 8th July and 10th July will be given the option to change their flights for free. They will also be able to claim a refund or voucher. These options will be communicated directly to impacted customers as well as travel agents, while the Aer Lingus ‘Travel Advisory’ page will also have up to the minute information on all the options.

"Aer Lingus fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by IALPA’s industrial action and is giving impacted customers as many options as possible.”

After facilitating eight hours of discussions on Monday, the Labour Court decided to use its authority to have a formal meeting on Wednesday, after which it will issue a recommendation.

The meeting is being held a week after the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) began an indefinite work-to-rule, resulting in them withdrawing from out-of-hours services.

An eight-hour strike was also held on Saturday, during which hundreds of pilots marched around the airport, holding signs that read “two years talking, deal now” and “no pilots, no profits”.