An agreement brokered yesterday by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to help resolve the dispute at Aer Lingus was accepted this morning at a meeting of pilots at Dublin airport.
At the meeting of pilots represented by the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa), the pilots' section of the Impact
trade union, 180 Ialpa members voted to accept the proposals while the rest of the 480 pilots are expected to vote on the package tonight.
The meeting ended at 2.30am today.
Although a result of the ballot will not be due until Thursday, the union confirmed the agreement was endorsed by a show of hands.
The airline's pilots had faced suspension from today unless they provided undertakings that they would co-operate with the airline's new base in Belfast.
According to the agreement, pilots at the Belfast operation will be recruited on local pay and conditions in Belfast. Similar arrangements will apply to other bases set up overseas in the future. A separate, defined-contribution pension scheme will apply for pilots recruited for Belfast.
However, pilots in the Republic moving to the North on secondment will retain their existing defined-benefit pension scheme. Pilots in the North transferring to the South will be able to use money in their pension fund to buy into the scheme in the Republic.
Aer Lingus will also recognise Impact/Ialpa as the representative body for pilots in Belfast. This will allow the union to have a role in the negotiation of future pay and conditions but not those in place on day one of the new operation.
If industrial action had gone ahead, up to 15,000 passengers daily could have been affected at a cost to the company of around €5 million per day.