Aer Lingus has canceled 122 flights between Wednesday, July 3, and Sunday, July 7 amid ongoing industrial action by the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA).
“In order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the impact of IALPA’s continuing industrial action, Aer Lingus has had to take the step of canceling 122 additional flights over the course of Wednesday 3rd July to Sunday 7th July (inclusive)," the airline said in a statement today, Friday, June 28.
"Implementing these cancellations is to enable us to protect as many services as possible for as many of our customers as possible.
"These cancellations will be implemented today [June 28], and details will be communicated to impacted customers.
"Details of the services impacted are set out on the ‘Travel Advisory’ page of AerLingus.com."
Between July 3 and July 7, 61 flights departing Ireland have been canceled, 24 flights departing the UK have been canceled, 32 flights departing Europe have been canceled, and five flights departing the US (all from New York's JFK airport) have been canceled.
Aer Lingus said customers impacted by the cancellations between July 3 and July 7 will be given the option to change their flights for free.
They will also be able to claim a refund or voucher.
These options will be communicated directly to impacted customers as well as travel agents, while the Aer Lingus ‘Travel Advisory’ page will also have up-to-the-minute information on all the options.
"Aer Lingus fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by IALPA’s industrial action and is giving impacted customers as many options as possible.”
IALPA commenced its indefinite 'work-to-rule' industrial action on Wednesday, June 26. Pilots will additionally be striking from 5 am to 1 pm Irish time tomorrow, Saturday, June 29.
Aer Lingus said on Thursday that it was assessing further cancelations after talks with IALPA and its umbrella union Fórsa broke down.
"The discussions did not progress to a point where a resolution could be reached and they were ended by IALPA," Aer Lingus said in a statement on Thursday after the meetings.
Earlier in the week, Aer Lingus executives attended the Labour Court on Tuesday while members of IALPA and Fórsa attended later that day.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said later on Tuesday that the airline was "disappointed" that following the meetings, the Labour Court's "assessment is that it is unable to assist in the dispute at this time."
Aer Lingus further announced that day that it was canceling 50 flights for Monday, July 1, and Tuesday, July 2 in addition to the flights that had already been canceled for June 26 - June 30 "in order to continue to protect as many services as possible from the impact of IALPA’s continuing industrial action."
On Friday, Aer Lingus said on its travel advisory page that it understands the further cancelations have "caused major disruption to both our customers and our flight schedules."
It added: "We plan to operate the majority of our schedule and have taken steps to minimise disruption.
"While the nature of this industrial action may lead to further cancellations and delays, we will continue to communicate directly with impacted customers as soon as possible.
"The most up-to-date on-day flight information can be found on our flight status tool or on the mobile app."
It added that customers whose flights are impacted will be communicated to directly via email/SMS, or through their travel agent, advising of their options.
"While we will endeavour to reaccommodate customers where possible the levels of disruption may not make this possible," Aer Lingus noted.
All Aer Lingus Regional flights (operated by Emerald Airlines) and Aer Lingus UK transatlantic flights to and from Manchester will operate as scheduled, the airline said.
Meanwhile, Mark Tighe, President of IALPA, told BBC Good Morning Ulster on Friday morning that chances of an escalation of their industrial action are high and that they would have further news later on Friday.
Comments