LENGTHY TALKS BETWEEN Aer Lingus and the pilots’ union at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) have concluded this evening with an agreement reached on the issues that were outstanding.

Earlier the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA), a branch of IMPACT, agreed to call-off planned industrial action that was to begin tomorrow following all night talks at the LRC.

Disruption would have been caused to some 30,000 Aer Lingus passengers.

The main concerns to members of IALPA centred on the management of the peak summer period roster and the development of a longer term roster model.

IMPACT said that an agreement had been reached on these issues and that industrial action has been postponed until 1 July to allow for changes to the rosters to be made.

Following further discussions which lasted over three hours today, IMPACT said that an agreement had been reached on the issues concerning pilots located at Aer Lingus bases in Belfast and Gatwick but that details of this agreement would not be released until IALPA could brief its members.

As a result a planned industrial action due to take place in Gatwick and Belfast next week remains in place until members have had the opportunity to consider the content of the agreement

Aer Lingus HR manager Michael Grealy told RTÉ News following the talks that he hoped the proposals will end any threat of industrial action.