Aer Lingus cancels 122 additional flights as pilots' industrial action continues

Muireann Duffy

Aer Lingus has cancelled a further 122 flights which had been scheduled for next week due to ongoing industrial action being taken by pilots over pay.

On Friday afternoon, the airline confirmed the latest cancellations will impact flights from Wednesday, July 3rd to Sunday, July 7th.

Aer Lingus said the cancellations were necessary to "enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible".

The latest announcement comes after over 200 flights this week were cancelled as discussions between the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association and Aer Lingus failed to reach a solution to avoid industrial action.

Pilots are seeking a pay increase of 24 per cent, which they say equates to inflation since the last pay rise in 2019. Aer Lingus has said it is willing to offer pay increases of 12.25 per cent or above if "improvements in productivity and flexibility" are discussed.

Aer Lingus pilots commenced a work-to-rule action on Wednesday, refusing to engage in overtime, while an eight-hour strike is set to go ahead on Saturday.

A number of flights were also retimed to avoid the strike period.

Aer Lingus said customers impacted by the latest cancellations will be given the choice to change their flights for free, or to cancel their booking to received a refund or voucher.

The travel advisory page on the Aer Lingus website, which lists all the flights impacted by the industrial action, has also been updated to reflect the cancellations next week.

"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," the airline added.