A suspended Aer Lingus pilot wants the High Court to order the airline to allow him attend training in a lawsuit over a pledge to transfer him to Dublin Airport from the carrier’s defunct Manchester base.
Capt Ian Blair is in dispute with Aer Lingus over an incident in November that prompted trade union the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), to protest at executive interference in flight operations.
In an action backed by the union, he will ask the High Court on Friday to order the carrier to allow him attend training for which he was rostered next Monday, and which is necessary for his transfer to Dublin Airport from Manchester.
Blair opted for redeployment to Dublin when Aer Lingus told staff at Manchester earlier this year that it planned to close its base at the UK airport on March 31st.
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He argues that the airline then told him only on the evening of Monday, March 30th that he would remain in the UK pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings against him.
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Barrister Cathy Smith told the court that Aer Lingus first confirmed to Blair that he was rostered for training next Monday, but then claimed this was a mistake.
Judge Brian Cregan told the parties the High Court would on Friday hear Blair’s application to be allowed attend training.
Blair and Ialpa contest whether further action should have been taken against him once an inquiry into the incident ended in January.
Aer Lingus suspended Blair in early November, following a flight from Barbados to Manchester during a cabin crew strike for higher pay.
There were no passengers on the flight except cabin crew who were not on flying duty, known as a “positioning crew”, who had not taken part in the strike.
He told the crew to sit in economy class, prompting a complaint to Aer Lingus in Dublin from their manager.
Chief operations officer Adrian Dunne contacted the aircraft mid-flight to say that the positioning crew should sit in business class.
Blair did not comply and made a safety report after landing. Management suspended him, sparking protests from Ialpa, which said Dunne had no authority to tell the captain where crew should sit on a flight.
Aer Lingus’s barrister, Mairéad McKenna, told the court that Blair remained employed by the group’s UK subsidiary and faced disciplinary proceedings governed by English law, which should be allowed proceed. “What happens then, happens then,” she added.
