There are hopes of a possible breakthrough in the Aer Lingus pilots' dispute over the airline's planned Belfast hub.
Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion has written to pilots union IALPA, inviting them to talks aimed at alleviating their concerns surrounding the setting up of a new base in Belfast.
In the letter, seen by RTE News, Mr Mannion says the company accepts a recommendation made by industrial relations troubleshooter Phil Flynn, that the company should engage in discussions to explore how such concerns can be alleviated.
The IALPA executive meeting to consider the Aer Lingus invitation to talks is not now going to proceed tonight.
IALPA Prsident Evan Cullen said it was too late notice to convene the meeting and some of the executive members are away flying.
It is hoped the meeting will take place tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the industrial relations negotiator who worked with Aer Lingus management and pilots over the company's plans to set up new bases outside the Republic, has said he was unaware of any proposals for Belfast.
Phil Flynn told the pilots' union in a letter that had he known of the plans, it is unlikely he would have approached things differently. But he also said he would probably have recommended that pilot concerns about the establishment of the base be dealt with through joint discussions.
IALPA says Mr Flynn's statement vindicates its position that the Belfast base does not come under the terms of the Flynn Report, and undermines Aer Lingus' claims that it does.
The Union is now asking that Aer Lingus reconsiders its offer for talks regarding the staffing of the Belfast base.
Aer Lingus says at the time that Mr Flynn was working on his recommendations, no new bases had been definitively identified.
Since then, the airline says, Belfast was identified as a new base in the spirit of the recommendations of the Flynn Report.
Mr Flynn says he was aware the company was considering future bases in North America, Eastern Europe, Britain and Cork.
But he said the information he received from the company did not include plans for a base in Belfast.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus said it is the airline's intention to proceed to open in Belfast, based on local rates, terms and conditions.
The Irish Airline Pilots' Association has said discussions on the crewing of Aer Lingus' planned base in Belfast must now take place.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week programme, IALPA President, Evan Cullen, said Aer Lingus' position had now been undermined.
Mr Cullen added that IALPA had an agreement with the British Airline Pilots Association that it would represent Aer Lingus pilots based in Belfast.
He said this week's strike would be called off if Aer Lingus contacted the union to say they were open to talks.
Some 480 Aer Lingus pilots are due to strike on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest at the airline's plans to hire pilots for the new Belfast base on less favourable terms and conditions than its pilots flying out of the Republic.
IALPA is unhappy at the company's unwillingness to negotiate with it on the terms and conditions for those jobs.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuiv, has dismisssed suggestions that he is going to intervene to have Aer Lingus reverse its decision to end its Shannon to Heathrow route.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio he said that while he was dismayed with the Aer Lingus decision and was stunned by the news.
He said he was at one with the position of Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, that it would be inappropraite and very detrimental to interfere in the internal affairs of Aer Lingus.
He said the emphasis should now be on alternative ways to solving the problems at Shannon rather than trying to reverse the Aer Lingus desicion.
He said it was a matter for the Shannon Airport Authority to get out into the market place to create new opportunities and to provide new services from the airport.
