IBEC blasts 'opportunistic' pilots

Employers' group IBEC has branded the threatened strike by Aer Lingus pilots next week as 'opportunism of the worst kind'.

IBEC says it is a self-serving measure that fails to recognise the airline's need for a competitive cost base, and says the highest-paid group in the airline is using the travelling public as pawns in its dispute with the company.

The two-day strike planned by Aer Lingus pilots for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week is likely to ground all of the airline's flights in and out of the country.

The 480 pilots are staging the 48-hour strike in protest at the pay and conditions being offered by the company at its new hub in Belfast.

Irish Airline Pilots Association president Evan Cullen said Aer Lingus's actions in recent weeks had been a fig leaf for a cost-cutting agenda against pilots who had served the company well.

But Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion described the threat by pilots to strike as a 'scandalous proposition' and has called on the pilots' union to withdraw the threat.

Mr Cullen said it was grotesque that Aer Lingus pilots must resign their current service, terms and conditions, and re-apply if they want to work out of Belfast under different pay and conditions.

He said a meeting yesterday with management over the Belfast development was the first the union had had. He said IALPA remains available to talk, and said it would be a matter of great regret if passengers are disrupted by the planned action.

But Mr Mannion said Aer Lingus was now faced with the 'extraordinary proposition' that IALPA could have a veto over Aer Lingus's ability to expand into bases outside the country.

Mr Mannion said it would be extremely difficult in mid-August to provide contingency cover for the affected services and added that up to 50,000 passengers could be disrupted.

The airline has set up a help line at 0818 365 044. All customers booked to travel on Tuesday August 21 and Wednesday August 22 can change their flight details free of charge or avail of a full refund.

Meanwhile, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said a work stoppage by pilots would not be good news for the tourist industry, and would mean millions of euro in lost business.

Its chief executive, Eamon McKeon, said it would come in the middle of a peak season that had already been bedevilled by bad weather, a weak dollar and the foot and mouth scare.

The Irish Travel Agents' Association called on the trade unions at Aer Lingus to continue negotiating in a professional manner. An all-out strike, it said, would not serve the interests of the Irish travelling public or visitors from overseas.