Tonight:
5°c
A day after British Airways boss Willie Walsh picked a fight with unions by axeing 1700 cabin crew, his old airline Aer Lingus revealed plans for proportionately larger jobs carnage: slashing one in six of the workforce.
The Irish flag carrier plans to cut 676 jobs and reduce wages across its pilots and other remaining senior staff earning more than €35,000 (£32,000) a year. All staff will have overtime rates and allowances cut and be told to end restrictive “legacy” working practices. Pension perks will go.
The shake-up of the former state airline after a decade of cuts instigated when Walsh led the carrier is aimed at keeping Aer Lingus flying in the face of a collapse of demand in the Ireland market and continuing cut-throat competition from its unwelcome 29% shareholder Ryanair.
The cuts are the result of a five-week review of the airline by new chief executive Christoph Mueller, a former package holidays executive.
“The outlook in each of our current core markets is poor and in line with the macroeconomic outlook we do not expect any near-term recovery,” said Mueller.
“Aer Lingus cannot continue with an operating cost base which is structurally uncompetitive when compared to that of its peers. A significant differential in operating cost is not sustainable. We must transform the business now.”
Chairman Colm Barrington said executives and senior management would take pay cuts of 10%, and non-executives 20%.
