Aer Lingus Pilots Plan Strike Over Belfast Move

Pilots at Irish airline Aer Lingus will strike for two days next week over company plans for a new hub in Belfast.

Pilots at Irish airline Aer Lingus will strike for two days next week over company plans for a new hub in Belfast that they say will employ staff on less favourable pay and conditions than in Dublin.

"The IMPACT Trade Union has given formal notice to Aer Lingus that Aer Lingus pilots will engage in a 48-hour work stoppage beginning at 00.01 hours on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007," Aer Lingus said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the union planned further work stoppages on dates to be advised. The company has been battling with unions to cut overheads since its privatisation last year.

Aer Lingus last week launched its first base outside the Republic of Ireland, at Belfast in Northern Ireland, in a bid to boost growth prospects for the former state airline.

"Earlier this year both the Labour Court and the related Flynn report recommended that the company be allowed to open new bases outside of the Republic of Ireland on local pay and conditions," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

"In calling this unwarranted strike action, the pilots are directly ignoring those specific recommendations. This cynical attempt to use the new base as a veto on essential progress towards competitiveness is ... deeply regrettable given the need to grow the company as an independent force in the market."

DISRUPTION

Aer Lingus said it was working on contingency plans but warned customers were likely to face severe disruption.

Public broadcaster RTE said the strike was likely to ground all Aer Lingus flights in and out of the country and affect up to 30,000 passengers during the peak holiday season.

"This work stoppage comes at a very bad time for Aer Lingus as August is its peak month in terms of profitability," said Davy Stockbrokers' analyst Brian Carr in a research note.

"Strike action of this kind ... hurts an airline in two ways. Firstly the company loses revenues for the strike days. Secondly and crucially ... bookings for the period around the strike also fall off as passengers opt, if possible, for a rival airline in which they can have more confidence."

Irish tourism groups called for the strike to be abandoned.

"...We are now faced with a period of uncertainty, what with an economic slow-down, higher interest rates, a poor summer weather-wise and the continuing threat of foot-and-mouth disease," the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said.

"(The) strike threat ... has the potential to cause immense disruption to the important tourism industry of this country".

Aer Lingus shares were flat at 2.45 euros by 1100 GMT on Tuesday compared to a 0.1 percent rise in the broader Irish stock market.