Aer Lingus has announced the following flight cancellations, for tomorrow Wednesday 19 January. This disruption is as a result of Impact Cabin Crew Union continuing to refuse to operate the flights under a new roster system.

Flights cancelled are as follows:

EI 650 Dublin to Frankfurt and EI 651 Frankfurt to Dublin

EI 582 Dublin to Malaga and EI 583 Malaga to Dublin

EI 594 Dublin to Madrid and EI 595 Madrid to Dublin

EI 606 Dublin to Amsterdam and EI 607 Amsterdam to Dublin

EI 176 Dublin to London Heathrow and EI 177 London Heathrow to Dublin

Those passengers whose flights are cancelled have been informed via SMS and email and they will be re-booked on alternative flights. For those customers whose flights have been cancelled or those who elect not to travel, Aer Lingus has also activated a change for free and refund request facility on www.aerlingus.com.

Aer Lingus sincerely regrets that these flights have been cancelled. The sole responsibility for these cancellations, and the corresponding disruption to customers’ travel plans, lies with Impact trade union members who continue to take industrial action despite 15 months of negotiation, agreement, clarification, conciliation and binding arbitration.

So far 86 cabin crew employees have refused to cooperate with the new rosters.  Following individual meetings today, 32 of these have been removed from their duties and the Aer Lingus payroll. This process was clearly outlined when Aer Lingus wrote to its cabin crew employees last Thursday 13 January detailing the new roster arrangements, and associated rules.

The new rosters have been developed in line with international best practice to achieve the 850 flying hours per annum agreed as part of the Greenfield collective agreement. The 850 hours requirement was accepted by 93% of cabin crew in March 2010, and included in the subsequent binding arbitration concluded five months ago.

Aer Lingus
Tuesday 18th January 2011