Aer Lingus and the pilots union IALPA are to meet on Wednesday for fresh talks about an ongoing pay dispute, as a deadline to prevent a new aircraft from being allocated elsewhere in the IAG group approaches.
Pilot representatives and management were already scheduled to meet at the Labour Court for talks on April 22nd.
But in a letter sent to the president of the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) this week, the chief operations officer at Aer Lingus, Adrian Dunne, said the airline has requested an earlier date from the Labour Court.
He added that although a response has not yet been received, it is unlikely that the request will be granted.
"As previously advised, the current impasse on negotiations and failure to find an acceptable agreement has led to IAG placing our planned A321XLR aircraft deliveries on hold," he said.
He said the painting of the fuselage of the first aircraft was deferred to early May and that is the latest possible date in the production process.
"While we remain fully committed to the Labour Court process, the above timeline requires a decision on painting to be made by 28th April, which is not possible given current Labour Courts date, expected timelines for any recommendation and subsequent consideration by Aer Lingus, IALPA and any ballot," Mr Dunne said.
"This unfortunately will result in the A321XLR being re-allocated elsewhere within the IAG Group. Therefore, I am writing to you today to invite you to meet to explore if an agreement can be reached and ratified in advance of this deadline. It is incumbent on us to try to find a solution as soon as possible."
This evening a spokesperson for IALPA said the union had agreed to meet Aer Lingus management on Wednesday.
Last month, talks at the Workplace Relations Commission on the impasse ended without agreement.
The airline said at the time that IALPA representatives had sought pay increases that were significantly higher than the 12.25% increase in consolidated pay and 1.5% increase in unconsolidated pay that had been recommended by an independent pilot pay tribunal in its report in December 2023, but rejected by the pilots.
It is understood that IALPA had sought an effective increase in pay for pilots of 27%, comprised of a 20% pay increase over three years and the full cost of a 2019 crewing agreement understood to be worth a further 7%.
Speaking at the time of the publication of the company's results in February, Luis Gallego, the CEO of Aer Lingus’s parent IAG, warned investment in the airline would be reduced in the absence of a pilot pay agreement.
