Hundreds of Aer Lingus pilots who are members of the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association took part in a strike today in a dispute over pay.
The work stoppage, which began at 5am and ran until 1pm, led to the cancellation of 120 flights impacting up to 17,000 passengers.
The pilots are seeking a pay rise of up to 24% to take account of increases in the cost of living since their last wage hike in 2019.
However, the company is refusing to boost their pay by this amount without new productivity and flexibility concessions being agreed, because other groups of workers at the company have only received a pay increase of 12%.
Around 500 pilots took part in the picket at Dublin Airport this morning before they returned to work at lunchtime.
The IALPA members gathered at the Aer Lingus headquarters and listened to a speech from President Captain Mark Tighe.
After that, they walked in a long line on the road around the airport complex, past the two terminals and down the exit road to the main roundabout where they picketed until just before 9am when they left.
They carried placards which had slogans such as "Two years talking, deal now", "No pilots, no profits" and "Together we are stronger".
Many pilots declined to speak to RTÉ News about their motivation for joining the picket, saying they had been asked not to talk to the media by their union.
However, Captain Gareth Hanna said the resolve of pilots was strong to achieve their goal.
"Nobody wants passengers to be put out, it's the last thing they want, we work every day to get our customers where they want to go on time," he said.
"It does hurt, but unfortunately this is the position that the management has put us in."
Captain Gerry Duff said he was striking because of pay and conditions and the future of junior pilots.
"It is only an inflation increase, everybody else has got it in the country and we deserve it," he said.
First Officer Chloe Halpin, who has only recently joined the company, said she was on 10% less pay than other colleagues.
"We should only have one pay scale in Aer Lingus, that is why I am here," she said.
IALPA President Captain Mark Tighe said the response from pilots had been outstanding and it demonstrated "that they mean business".
"Our passengers are extremely important to us and unlike managers we meet them every day. This is not what we want, but we are left in a situation created by management whereby we are just exercising the same rights as everybody else in this country has," he said.
Cpt Tighe said he was hopeful the Labour Court would be able to assist when the two sides meet with it on Monday.
"But this will require management and Aer Lingus to come to the meeting and show that they are willing to listen and accept the reasonableness of an inflationary pay claim," he said.
Asked if the union would consider asking members for permission to broaden its negotiating mandate to include productivity and flexibility as Aer Lingus is seeking, Captain Tighe said the union's mandate is clear that pilots will not accept work practice changes in exchange for more pay.
He said he is confident the dispute will be resolved but added that it will be resolved by agreement of the pilots, not by unilateral direction by Aer Lingus management.
In a statement, Aer Lingus apologised to passengers for the serious disruption caused by IALPA's strike action.
It said the action is very damaging to its customers, the wider staff in Aer Lingus and the company itself.
"IALPA's actions continue to inflict serious reputational and financial damage on the airline and are increasingly making a resolution of the dispute more difficult," it said.
"Aer Lingus welcomes yesterday’s Labour Court invitation to both parties back into the Court and hopes that Monday’s engagement in the court can result in an outcome that will bring normality to the travelling public."
Yesterday, Aer Lingus announced a further 120 flight cancellations between Wednesday and Sunday of next week on top of the 270 it had already cancelled since the industrial action began three days ago.
On Wednesday the pilots began an indefinite work to rule in an effort to force the company to accede to their demands.
The Labour Court has issued an invitation to the two parties involved in the dispute to attend a meeting on Monday to review the situation.
Both the company and pilots have accepted the invitation to take part in the talks.
Pilots union IALPA has also backed away from a plan to escalate its industrial action, because of the development.
On Tuesday the two sides met separately with the Labour Court to see if negotiations could be progressed.
However, having met pilot and management representatives, the court said it could not assist at that point.
But it did say that it would review the situation in July, which begins on Monday.
It also asked both sides not to take steps to escalate the dispute further in the meantime.
On Thursday management and union representatives met face to face for five hours, but the talks broke down without any agreement.
