Recent industrial action by pilots at Aer Lingus is expected to have a direct cost for the airline of at least €55m.
The figures are contained in the company's latest set of financial results, which were released this evening.
The pilots' pay dispute led to the cancellation of 610 flights due to a two week work-to-rule and an eight-hour strike.
"The industrial action will have an expected €55m direct financial cost to the business over Q2 and Q3, before including the impact on forward bookings," Aer Lingus said in a statement.
"Following the resolution of the pilot pay dispute through a Labour Court recommendation which delivered structural change for the business, Aer Lingus is assessing the implications of the financial damage caused by the dispute in the context of the current competitive environment and the passenger cap at Dublin Airport."
"This will include a review of the weaker parts of the airline's network and its cost base," the company said.
Aer Lingus Chief Executive Lynne Embleton said it is not yet clear what the total cost will be of lost bookings linked to the pilots' action.
"There was definitely a hit on bookings during the industrial action period but it remains to be seen whether we can recover some of that gap, so that's why we are not giving specific figures now," Ms Embleton said.
"I am really pleased to see that bookings did come back really well once the industrial action was lifted.
"The €55 million is the direct cost of leasing in aeroplanes, reaccommodating customers, compensation and so on, that we saw over that period," she added.
Aer Lingus’ operating profit for the second quarter of 2024 was €92m, down by €29m compared to the second quarter of 2023.
The airline made an operating loss of €82m in the first quarter of the year resulting in an operating profit for the first half of 2024 of €9m.
Aer Lingus said its results in the second quarter of the year were impacted by market pressures across the Atlantic and the recent industrial action by pilots.
"Competitors across the Atlantic increased their capacity into Ireland by 20% this summer, putting pressure on Aer Lingus’ long-haul revenues, particularly in the economy cabin," Aer Lingus said.
Last week, members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) voted in favour of accepting Labour Court proposals which included a pay increase of 17.75% over four years.
Aer Lingus unions meet to discuss implication of pilots' deal
Unions representing other groups of workers at Aer Lingus met today to discuss the implications of the pilots' pay deal for their members.
SIPTU, Fórsa, Connect and Unite met under the umbrella of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
SIPTU represents 1,200 workers at the airline in areas such as guest services, ground staff, cleaning and catering.
At the end of 2022, the union agreed a 12.25% pay deal with Aer Lingus over three years.
A similar increase was agreed with the Fórsa trade union for cabin crew.
Under the agreements, unions can go back to management if another group of workers at the company receives a better pay deal.
"We will meet as a group of unions to look at the Labour Court recommendation to see what parts of it would apply to our members," said SIPTU Aviation Sector Organiser Niall Phillips earlier.
"Under a pay agreement from December 2022, we have a section that allows us to go back to Aer Lingus should any other group receive increases greater than the original agreement that are unfunded increases."
"On the face of it, it looks like the 17.75% is unfunded pay increases," he added.
IALPA contends that the pay rise is unfunded because the union said there are no work practice changes in exchange for the increase.
However, Aer Lingus believes that it is getting flexibility and productivity from pilots as part of the deal because the Labour Court proposals include the scrapping of a crewing agreement relating to summer leave and the restructuring of pay scales.
