Hundreds of flights from the Irish company Aer Lingus will be canceled between Wednesday and Sunday, due to a social movement by pilots demanding a salary increase, the company announced in several press releases. The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) is calling for a 24% pay rise to compensate for inflation. Their last increase was in 2019.
Aer Lingus has already canceled 270 flights, affecting some 35,000 passengers, due to this social movement which started on Wednesday and is scheduled to last until Sunday. As part of this action, pilots refuse any change in duty rosters or work overtime. An eight-hour strike is also announced for Saturday.
According to Aer Lingus, this measure deprives the airline of the flexibility it needs to operate its summer schedule. Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris on Tuesday urged the parties to open discussions to avoid a «chaos total» for passengers at the start of the summer vacation.
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There will be “very little sympathy” for the pilots involved in this movement which will lead to the cancellation of family holidays and disrupt the tourism sector, warned Simon Harris, interviewed by journalists in Dublin. The Irish labor court, responsible for resolving social disputes, indicated on Tuesday, after meeting separately with the parties, that it would not intervene in this dispute for the moment.
