Ryanair has been approached by Aer Lingus about hiring aircraft to act as cover in case next Tuesday's industrial action goes ahead.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair confirmed to ireland.comthat a request had been made and that Ryanair was in a position offer "a number" of aircraft but she could not reveal how many, nor whether this matched the number requested by Aer Lingus. She said the aircraft would be crewed by Ryanair staff.
She added that the Ryanair would put on a number of extra flights next Tuesday to "help stranded passengers". The aircraft being made available are Boeing 737-800 aircraft and these are used for short-haul routes.