The union representing Aer Lingus pilots has said the airline today rejected an offer from the pilots to stand down their 48-hour strike set for next Tuesday and Wednesday if the airline in turn reversed its move to recruit pilots for its new Belfast base on lower pay.
The Impact union, incorporating the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa) said in a statement that the airline had "today rejected an offer from its pilots to stand down their 48-hour strike...if the airline reciprocated by standing down its moves to recruit pilots for its Belfast base on lower pay and conditions than their Dublin counterparts.
"This would have allowed immediate discussions to begin on bringing about a settlement on the terms of employment for the Belfast based pilots," Impact said.
All Aer Lingus flights are expected to be grounded by the strike and the airline has made contingency plans to accommodate customers by bringing in other aircraft.
The strike was called earlier this week after Aer Lingus advertised jobs for pilots on its website, a week after it announced that Belfast will be its new hub. Belfast will also take the slots to London Heathrow airport that were controversially taken from Shannon airport.
Impact said: "Should the airline be unwilling to stand down its recruitment initiative, Impact also offered to enter immediate discussions without preconditions and without standing down the strike action. However, in a letter to the union, the airline has now rejected both alternatives proposed by the union and the pilots strike is set to go ahead on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week."
About 30,000 passengers are likely to be affected by the move. Aer Lingus has offered them alternative flights or refunds for the flights that will be cancelled as a result of the strike, but has refused to pay any expenses incurred by passengers as a result of delays or cancellations.