THIRTY THOUSAND AER Lingus passengers are free from the spectre of industrial action as news comes from overnight talks at the Labour Relations Commission that a threatened strike has been called off.

Both sides in the dispute had returned to the table at 7pm yesterday evening after talks broke down on Saturday morning. IMPACT trade Union has confirmed that that the chairman of the LRC made suggestions which were acceptable to both sides, even though it was reported this morning that things were moving along very slowly.

The main concerns to members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association centred on the management of the peak summer period roster and the development of a longer term roster model. IMPACT says that agreement has now been reached on both of these issues.

Pilots had threatened to arrive for duty an hour later than scheduled from tomorrow, which would have resulted in travel chaos.

Flights will operate as normal from tomorrow, and the industrial action has been suspended until July 1st to allow for changes to be made to rosters.

Issues concerning pilots located at Aer Lingus bases in Belfast and Gatwick will be the subject of further discussions, which will get underway just after 11.15am this morning.