Mediation to take place in Aer Lingus pilot suspension dispute

High Court Reporters

A dispute between an Aer Lingus pilot, who was suspended from the company's recently closed Manchester base, is to go to mediation, the High Court has heard.

Captain Ian Blair had, on Wednesday, been granted a hearing date on Friday for his application for an order that he be allowed to attend a retraining course in Dublin on Monday.

The course is for pilots who have been transferred from the closed Manchester operation.

However, Blair is the subject of disciplinary proceedings by Aer Lingus UK Ltd, which is his employer and is on suspension pending the outcome of that process.  He says, however, the process ended last January.

Aer Lingus maintains that the suspension remains in place and it is governed by UK disciplinary procedure.  It says he was rostered for the retraining course in error, which he disputes.

He had been suspended on pay last November to allow for an investigation into a complaint that he had required cabin crew, who were on a "positioning flight" from Barbados to Manchester, to sit in economy rather than business class.  There were no passengers on the flight.

There had been industrial action by Aer Lingus cabin crew in Manchester at this time for higher pay.  The cabin crew on the Barbados flight did not take part in the industrial action.

It is claimed that Blair did not comply with an instruction from a chief operations officer to allow the crew to sit in business class, and disciplinary action was taken against him by Aer Lingus UK.

He brought proceedings earlier this month against Aer Lingus Ltd and Aer Lingus UK Ltd over what he said was the airline's insistence that he would have to remain in the UK while disciplinary proceedings against him continued, even though he said it had been agreed he would transfer to Dublin.

He then brought another application seeking to be allowed to sit the training course, and on Wednesday, Judge Brian Cregan granted an early date of Friday for the hearing to take place.

On Thursday, his barrister, Cathy Smith, told the judge the hearing on Friday could be vacated as the parties had agreed to go to mediation.

The judge agreed to adjourn the hearing for a week and was also told that a previous undertaking by the defendants not to take steps to progress the disciplinary process would continue until then.