More than 20,000 Aer Lingus passengers may be stranded tomorrow unless a dispute between the company and 3,000 clerical staff can be resolved to avert a strike.
Three of today's outbound Dublin flights - to Paris Charles de Gaulle (EI534), Birmingham (EI278) and Manchester (EI218) - are being cancelled because of the threatened dispute. Even if the strike goes ahead, 2,000 passengers travelling on inbound flights from north America will not be affected.
The Aer Lingus plane bringing the Irish team back from last night's match with Andorra was not affected by the dispute. Nor will the strike affect charter flights bringing fans back today.
Details of flight cancellations are contained in an advertisement by Aer Lingus on page 7 of today's Irish Times. Passengers affected by the strike will be offered a refund, a rescheduling of their flight or, where possible, an alternative flight with other carriers, said Aer Lingus. Ryanair said it had "wide availability of seats on all routes", especially between Dublin and the UK.
In an effort to resolve the dispute, the National Implementation Body (NIB), set up to police the industrial peace clause of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), last night called on the Labour Court to intervene.
While the court has agreed to convene a meeting between SIPTU and the company, it remains unclear if it will do so before the strike deadline.
A late intervention by the court is unlikely to prevent losses for Aer Lingus. Unless the company concedes SIPTU's main demands on pay, it is possible that unofficial action will take place even if the union accedes to the requests of the Labour Court and NIB.
The threatened strike is the first of three stoppages planned by SIPTU in pursuit of pay "equity" with the company's 1,650 cabin crew. The others are planned for Friday, April 6th, and Thursday, April 12th.
Yesterday, SIPTU branch secretary Mr Owen Reidy accused the company of having "given substantially more to cabin crew" and said senior managers had told cabin crew representatives that the company would not insist on implementing contentious new work practices.
But the company's director of corporate affairs, Mr Dan Loughrey, denied this.
"I have spoken to everybody involved in the negotiations with cabin crew," he said. "They absolutely and categorically denied that any such commitment was made on behalf of Aer Lingus."
Mr Loughrey condemned the strike as "completely unjustified". He confirmed that the company might withhold payment of the 2 per cent pay rise due under the PPF because of the dispute.
Mr Reidy said the 2 per cent increase was a separate issue and called on the company not to aggravate an already difficult situation.