Aer Lingus cancels flights ahead of industrial action

Aer Lingus has cancelled more than 200 flights later this week due to impending industrial action by pilots’ union IALPA.

IALPA plans to impose a strict “work to rule” policy from Wednesday (26 June) for pilots working for Aer Lingus, which means they will not work overtime and reject all requests from the airline to change their rosters. 

The union has also subsequently announced a separate strike by Aer Lingus pilots for an eight-hour period from 5am to 1pm on Saturday (29 June).

The union is locked in a long-running dispute with Aer Lingus over pay, with 99 per cent of its members voting for industrial action in a recent ballot.

Aer Lingus had already cancelled 24 flights per day during the first five days of the IALPA’s action from 26-30 June before the union announced the eight-hour strike on 29 June.

The strike on Saturday is expected to cause the cancellation of a further 120 flights, as Aer Lingus warned of “major disruption” for passengers due to the walkout by pilots.

Outside the strike day, Aer Lingus expects around 4,000 passengers per day to be affected by its pilots working to rule.

“The level of cancellations is currently at the lower end of the 10-20 per cent range. However, given the form of the industrial action there may be additional cancellations which happen close to the time of travel,” said the airline in a statement.

Aer Lingus added it was automatically rebooking impacted customers on to alternative flights.