The hangar at Dublin Airport that has recently been at the centre of a controversy over jobs is to house a new centralised staff operations centre for Aer Lingus.
Hangar 6 is already home to Aer Lingus' maintenance division and has space for more than 400 staff in modern offices.
By the middle of this year, the hangar will accommodate up to 350 staff, including a new centralised operations centre comprising maintenance stores, technical stores, operations control, flight operations and cabin operations.
A spokesman for the airline said that one or two pieces of real estate that Aer Lingus currently occupies are coming to the end of their leases, including its technical building, so staff there are being moved to the hangar.
The spokesman said the purpose of centralising staff, who to date have been spread between several buildings, was to create synergies and that at this point no further decisions have been made about moving more of the airline's staff to Hangar 6.
So far, everyone moving to Hangar 6 comes from other areas within the airport, and not its headquarters.
He said there is currently no plan to move and Aer Lingus headquarters staff to the hangar, but there is potential for it to accommodate more than 400 people.
