Aer Lingus has said that it plans to operate a full schedule from tomorrow using aircraft hired from Ryanair and other carriers.
"In an effort to ensure that we can operate a full schedule from tomorrow Friday, Aer Lingus have hired in aircraft from a number of carriers, including Ryanair,” the airline said. "Our intention is to operate a full schedule from tomorrow and minimise further disruption to customers caused by this unnecessary dispute.”
About 2,600 Aer Lingus passengers are set to face disruptions today following the cancellation of 34 flights as a result of the current dispute with cabin crew. The flight cancellations mark the highest level of disruption faced by passengers since the dispute over new rosters began on Monday.
The flights cancelled by the airline are all on European routes. The airline said that trans-atlantic services would operate normally.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary confirmed today his company has offered to provide aircraft to Aer Lingus at preferential rates to allow it to provide services to passengers during the current dispute.
He said that the operations teams of both airlines were working on the plan at present. "As a minority shareholder we are always here to help,” he said, adding that the deal could involve four or five aircraft.
Asked whether Ryanair was offering a discount on the aircraft as a shareholder, Mr O'Leary said: "Yes, we are doing them at lower than market rates."
Commenting on the dispute between cabin crew and Aer Lingus, the Ryanair chief said the company needed to win and win quickly. "If we can help in that process then we will help."
"This is a good time [January] to deal with them. Clearly, the union are backtracking on a deal, as only a union can do,” he said. "We'd like the company to resolve this as quickly as possible and with the minimum disruption as possible."
He described the arrangement as "routine”, adding that Ryanair had entered into similar arrangements previously with Aer Lingus and British Airways.
The flight cancellations today affect 17 European routes to and from Dublin airport. All transatlantic Aer Lingus flights as well as those departing from Shannon, Cork, Belfast and London Gatwick are planned to operate as scheduled.
The airline said it would try to operate 46 round-trip European flights from Dublin today. However, it advised that further disruptions to the flight schedule could occur. It said that it would hire in aircraft where possible to maintain services.
Up until late yesterday evening, 82 cabin crew staff had been removed from their duties and the Aer Lingus payroll for refusing to co-operate with the new rosters.
Meanwhile, almost 50 other cabin crew staff have been called to meetings with management and could potentially be removed from the payroll. The company said last night that overall 130 cabin crew members were refusing to co-operate with the new rosters.
The trade union Impact has referred the dispute to the Labour Court. However, Aer Lingus said it did not see any scope for further talks. The company’s head of human resources, Michael Greally, said that any attempt by the union to engage in further conciliation would “represent a cynical attempt to backtrack” on the requirements to increase flying hours for cabin crew to 850 a year.
The union maintained that the new rosters introduced by the airline were excessively onerous, anti-family and not needed to meet targets of increasing flying hours to 850 a year. It said that cabin crew had accepted the requirement to increase flying hours to 850 a year under the company’s overall cost-saving plan known as “Greenfield”.
However, the union said that members had not voted to accept the new rosters introduced unilaterally by management.
In a statement released last night the airline said it “sincerely regrets” the flight cancellations and blamed Impact for the disruption.