Aer Lingus is strongly considering the closure of its Manchester base where cabin crew have been striking over pay, The Irish Times understands.
The Irish carrier’s UK operation flies between Manchester and US destinations including New York and Boston, as well as Bridgetown in Barbados.
Cabin crew based at the British hub held a four-day strike over pay in October that hit 18 flights and 4,000 passengers. Further stoppages in recent weeks hit around 7,500 passengers on flights between Manchester and New York, Florida and Barbados.
Members of the Aer Lingus executive team held a business briefing with its 200 staff at the Manchester base on Monday morning, during which a presentation was given outlining its underperformance.
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A further communication issued to staff, which has been seen by The Irish Times, said closure of the base was under consideration.
“Despite all of the work and best efforts of the team, the Manchester long-haul operating margin performance continues to significantly lag behind that of Aer Lingus’s Irish long-haul operating margin,” it said.
[ Manchester fails to live up to Aer Lingus expectationsOpens in new window ]
“This makes it difficult to justify further investment in the Manchester base and raises the question as to whether there are potentially better alternative uses of the two aircraft that are in the Manchester base.
“This situation has prompted a necessary consideration of the long-term viability of the Manchester base. Colleagues at the Manchester base were advised that we will now enter into a collective consultation process with their representatives.
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“This process will explore all the options in respect of the base. However, staff were also advised that it will also include the possibility of a base closure.”
It is understood the base has been under scrutiny for some time, and that while underperformance has been an issue, the pay dispute with cabin crew has put further strain on the airline’s patience with the base.
Ms Embleton publicly said Manchester was “not performing” at a level that makes it attractive for further investment in recent weeks.
“The base is performing lower than elsewhere in Aer Lingus, and Aer Lingus is performing lower than elsewhere in IAG, so it’s not performing at a level that makes it attractive for investment,” she said in an interview with The Irish Times.
“Manchester has to be cost competitive. The airline needs to be cost competitive and it needs to perform financially to justify the asset allocation. So this is something that we’re taking seriously.”
While it is too early to say where the airline might redeploy its Manchester resources, it is understood a likely option is transatlantic flights from Dublin Airport.
Ialpa vice-president Daniel Langan said the union had received correspondence from Aer Lingus concerning “potential redundancies due to a potential closure” of its operation in Manchester.
“This is of course concerning news for all of our colleagues in Aer Lingus UK,” he said. “Pilots who work in the Aer Lingus UK are on secondment from Aer Lingus Ireland and have contracts to return to their permanent Irish position in such instances.
“Ialpa will work with Aer Lingus ensuring our members have a seamless transfer back to their permanent place of employment.”
The airline has told staff it “fully appreciates” this is “an uncertain and difficult time” for them and has pledged to “work closely” with them and the management team over the coming weeks to ensure they are kept fully informed.
Around 130 cabin crew voted to strike last month after rejecting the airline’s offer of a 12 per cent pay increase and a $15 boost (€13) to their US overnight allowance, bringing it to $130.
The basic pay of the Manchester-based cabin crew and the overnight allowance would still lag Irish crews’ earnings had they accepted the deal, according to Unite.
