Aer Lingus Flight Crew Industrial relations thread 2024

What has that absolute number got to do with anything? Have you looked at the value of these asset base? What return on those assets should they earn, in your learned view?

And how many pilots does BA have to pay as opposed to EI?

BA is about 5 times larger than EI. It's all proportionate.

As expected work to-rule from 26 June.

Friday change: Every Friday the pilots roster can be completely changed for the following week from what it was at roster publication. This allows the company to plug gaps but it's a nuisance to pilots who have organised child care etc based on the published roster.

This is looking very like the UK rail disputes, some of which are still dragging on . Anyone reckon IAG are just casual bystanders ?

No surprise really - they were unlikely to go for a "nuclear option" as first step. The dispute will drag on longer, though, or until the arline's management decide that they need to make a move aimed at settling.

So if you’re flying on a Saturday you won’t know if you’re flying until the day before?

Pilots could choose to work to rule but a union dictated generally requires a ballot plus it's more public. It also gives them the strike option.

I assume EI would hire in planes which would cost them a fortune?

so realistically, they don’t have enough pilots to crew their operation - is the gap bigger on short haul or long haul?

The media are full of suggestions of hire-ins but this is not necessarily straightforward.

(i) It is high season and there aren't too many carriers with aircraft sitting around doing nothing. Also, nowadays there are fewer pure charter operators, whose business model included an element of picking up ad hoc work where the opportunity arose.

(ii) Aer Lingus would need to have a good idea of what capacity they wished to hire in, and what flights were to be operated on this basis. A work-to-rule may not make this type of planning easy. They might have to hire in capacity as a contingency and then decide day-to-day how/if they were going to use it - messy for all concerned. Privilege Style, who have done a lot of flying for Aer Lingus in recent years, no longer have their 757 but do have two A321s. Their A330 is operating for Air Europa until early August 2024, so may not be available.

(iii) It has been suggested that the other IAG carriers might chip in and provide aircraft, but as they operate as stand-alone airlines I am not sure that this is how things would work. I could see BA putting larger aircraft on LHR-DUB where they were able to manage that, if a lot of EI services were being cancelled, but whether things would go any further than that, I don't know. As IALPA, BALPA and the Spanish Airline Pilots’ Union (Sepla) signed a co-operation agreement in May, some degree of solidarity on that front might be expected too.

https://sepla.es/en/groundbreaking-agreement-between-pilots-from-iberia-british-airways-vueling-and-aer-lingus-to-create-the-first-inter-union-alliance/

How far ahead is the roster?

Correct. And this shortfall in flight crew has been historically managed through the flexibility and good-will of EI’s pilots agreeing to work overtime/days off/flex rosters. This work-to-rule will now serve to very publicly expose the extent of this under-resourcing of pilots - and indeed other employee groups. The irony is, a properly resourced airline should largely have no issue handling a work-to-rule - why should any company be allowed rely on the flexibility of its employees just to function normally?

Any disruption due to work-to-rule is a symptom of mismanagement and passenger ire should be directed accordingly.

why should any company be allowed rely on the flexibility of its employees just to function normally?

How else are management expected to earn bonuses ?

Delays and plenty of them with some canx. Also not as easy as getting some pilots in to cover. Already a shortage of pilots and also need to be qualified on type.

A couple of planes go tech, that’s when it gets potentially really messy .

If not sorted in the next couple of weeks it’ll take things to go tits up before I see a resolution