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Aer Lingus: Protests mounting COUNCILLORS in Limerick
are considering formally boycotting Aer Lingus because of its decision
to end its Shannon to London Heathrow service.
The move comes as the campaign to have the decision reversed intensified
this week.
The board of Aer Lingus is due to meet within days to consider Ryanair’s
demand for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to discuss
the decision to axe the Shannon-London service.
Ryanair is the biggest share-holder in the airline with a 30 per cent
stake.
And the Irish Government will also meet for the first time since the summer
recess to try to find a way of defusing the controversy.
The move by councillors in Limerick is the latest in a series of protests
over Aer Lingus’ decision to end flights from London Heathrow to
Shannon and instead switch them to Belfast.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus said it respected the city council’s
right to express and represent its concerns — but it hoped that
it would do so in a positive way.
Talks between management and the pilots’ union IALPA were also under
way at Ireland’s Lab-our Relations Commission this week. The parties
were meeting in an effort to resolve a dispute arising from the airline’s
plan to open a new base in Belfast.
A two-day strike by pilots was called off last week after Aer Lingus Chief
Executive Dermot Mannion invited the union to talks. But the threat of
industrial action hitting thousands of travellers in Britain and Ireland
rem-ains if no resolution is achieved.
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