From this mornings Irish Independent. (other similar stories in the Irish Times)
Aer Lingus to ground all flights in dogfight with pilots
AER Lingus is grounding all flights from tomorrow with no clear date for a resumption of services as its dispute with pilots worsens.
In a dramatic response to a one-day strike over the airline's survival plan, the company will shut down the airline on Friday. The move is an attempt by management to fully implement its cost cutting plan.
Tomorrow limited services will fly to Britain and the US as pilots stage their one-day strike. Instead of carrying the normal daily load of 20,000 passengers, only 3,000 will be able to travel.
The management yesterday said it would not be able to resume services on Friday when no customers will travel. It has not decided when services will restart and the situation will be "kept under daily review".
The dispute centres on the pilots' refusal to work a new roster which reduces time off and increases flexibility.
The change is part of the survival plan which saw 2026 staff take redundancy and costs cut by €200m in the wake of the September 11 global airline crisis.
Aer Lingus corporate affairs director Dan Loughrey said: "We believe the plan is the absolute minimum we need to survive. It is vital it is implemented in full."
The airline said it was "deeply disturbed" by a letter from the pilots' trade union, Impact, questioning the relevance of the company's survival plan.
Customers whose flights are cancelled can fly with another airline, accept a refund, or travel on another date.
Bernard Harbor, a spokesman for Impact, said there was no reason for the airline to close on Friday. "This is a unilateral decision of Aer Lingus to disrupt passengers and risk the future of the airline."
Mr Harbor added the pilots had co-operated with the bulk of the survival plan and were responsible for reducing costs by €12m. Seven staff have been suspended without pay for defying the new timetable.
John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, last night called on the Government to immediately step in to resolve the dispute before serious damage is caused to the 150,000-job tourism industry.
David Murphy, Deputy Business Editor