Talks between Aer Lingus management and the airline pilots' union Ialpa at the Labour Relations Commission have been adjourned until next Monday.
The talks started last night hours after the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa) branch of the trade union Impact suspended the planned 48-hour strike by pilots for today and tomorrow in a row over the pay and conditions to be offered to pilots based at the airline's new hub in Belfast.
Michael Landers, Impact
Aer Lingus pilots are optimistic that a solution can be found in the row over job conditions at a new hub in Belfast, they said.
Further talks are scheduled to continue on Thursday and Friday in a bid to resolve the deadlock.
The Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa), represented by the Impact union, had threatened to halt all Aer Lingus flights today and tomorrow, causing travel chaos to 40,000 passengers.
Impact assistant general secretary Michael Landers, who was joined by six senior pilots at the talks, refused to comment on what was discussed or the conduct of the negotiations.
"Both sides have agreed not to comment on the detail of the talks. Impact is optimistic that a resolution can be reached but we cannot put a timescale on that. A resolution will be reached when it is reached," he said.
Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion attended the first session of talks yesterday evening and was understood to be available today if needed.
A meeting of 60 Fine Gael TDs, Senators and local councillors called for a reversal of the Aer Lingus decision to end its Shannon to Heathrow flights and urged the Government to hold a Cabinet meeting in the region.
The politicians called on the Government to support the request for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Aer Lingus shareholders.
The Shannon Action Group, which represents Aer Lingus workers at the airport, also met this afternoon to demand that the company's decision be reversed.
"If the Cabinet met here in Shannon next week, they could hear directly from those affected by the decision by Aer Lingus to remove the Shannon-Heathrow slots," said Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey.
"It would show a genuine commitment to address those concerns, something that has been lacking up to this point. The longer this crisis is allowed to drag on without resolution, the more damage is done, not only to Aer Lingus, but the region as a whole. You have to ask yourself, if a similar issue arose at Dublin Airport, would the Cabinet be so complacent?"
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus said it would be assessing the financial cost to the company of the threatened strike.
It said its fleet of aircraft had a load factor in the low 70s this morning compared with average of 75-85 per cent.
"Yesterday was our busiest time in some time - 98 per cent of all of our flights were full," said commercial director Enda Corneille.
"A strike is not welcome at any time. It's good that it's not happening. The cost is something we will be evaluating over the next number of days. Customers should have full confidence in Aer Lingus in making bookings. We've been selling very heavily in the run-up to the strike for the next few months."
All Aer Lingus short-haul flights were due to operate today and tomorrow following the suspension of the strike, but a small number of long-haul flights have been cancelled: the 10.30 EI105 Dublin to New York and 17.40 EI104 New York to Dublin today; and the 11.50 EI123 Dublin to Chicago and 16.20 EI122 Chicago to Dublin tomorrow.
Ialpa and Aer Lingus management last night agreed to go to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), to resolve the bitter dispute over pay and conditions of pilots at the new Belfast base.
Rival airline Ryanair took its stake in the former state airline to more than 29.4 per cent last night, making it the biggest single shareholder in Aer Lingus.
PA