Aer Lingus could fly off to UK

The Irish flag carrier, Aer Lingus, has reignited the rumours that they could well move their operation to UK shores. If they do move to either Belfast or London it could end with more redundancies than have previously been planned for. The airline has reached a stalemate in talks it had with pilots to try and reduce their wages. Aer Lingus has already applied for a UK operators license which would allow them to use cheaper airports in the UK if staff at the airline carry on refusing to lower their wages.

If the airline were to move to a UK airport all of its staff that are currently based in Dublin would have to re-apply for their jobs under the new UK company in affect forcing them into a lower wage deal, but this could take some months before it was all completed. In October that had settled on 676 job losses but that number could increase to more than 1,000 if they move operations. The airline has said that crew have refused their offer of cutting staff member wages that are over €35,000 per year.

The airline has already said that are planning to cut seven planes in January which already results in extra redundancies and will most likely have to be compulsory rather than voluntary. Aer Lingus are believed to be trying to save around €74 million from it wage bill as it tries to stay independent from a possible take-over of its biggest share holder Ryanair.