Almost 200 staff will be temporarily laid-off without pay at Aer Lingus’ Cork base later this year.

Temporary layoffs at Aer Lingus

Irish trade union Fórsa has met with Aer Lingus management following the airline’s announcement of the closure of its Shannon base and large-scale temporary layoffs in Cork.

On Tuesday the airline confirmed its 60 ground staff and 138 cabin crew at Cork Airport will be laid-off without pay from early September until late November 2021.

In Shannon, 45 ground staff are to be laid-off with immediate effect, with the 81 cabin crew to be offered advanced severance terms or a transfer to Dublin Airport.

Fórsa said it wanted a meaningful engagement aimed at maximising job retention and getting laid-off crew back to work as quickly as possible.

The trade union said it would call on the airline to prioritise redeployment over redundancy. Aer Lingus has notified the Government that it wants to reduce the Cork headcount by ten.

Ashley Connolly, who heads Fórsa’s Services and Enterprises Division, said the news might have been avoided if the Government had moved faster to implement supports for the aviation sector and give a clear roadmap on when and how international air travel would resume.

“The Government needs to decide if the crisis in this vital industry is to be permanent or temporary. Only the State has the power and resources to preserve Ireland’s vital international connectivity,” she said.

Aer Lingus’ announcement comes shortly after the airline issued financial results which showed that it lost €103 million in the first three months of 2021 on top of a loss of €361 million throughout 2020.

Aer Lingus said it has confirmed to its staff that the airline will emerge smaller from the pandemic and there will be a requirement for redundancies. The statement said the airline must be more cost-efficient and productive in order to generate the cash required to rebuild its financial health.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire criticised the lack of action taken by the Government.

“The Government needs to seriously wake up when it comes to aviation, it cannot recover without a plan and supports. We should be keeping these workers on. It is very worrying for the airport, for the region, but more importantly for workers and their families,” he added.