Pilots at Aer Lingus are to take part in industrial action from next Tuesday in a move the company warned could lead to a full cancellation of its operations, affecting potentially more than 30,000 people a day.
Members of the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa), which is a branch of the trade union Impact, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the action as part of a row over rosters.
In a statement the airline said that it had been served notice that from Tuesday, June 7th, pilots based in Dublin and Cork would not work on rostered free days or annual leave days and would report for duty one hour later than their rostered reporting times
Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said the planned industrial action could lead to a full cancellation of services from next week.
He said the withdrawal of flexibility by pilots would "destroy our ability to operate a proper schedule as we will miss our airport slot times, parking stands, gate positions and will be unable to fulfil flight connections for customers".
He also warned that it would severely hit the airline's profitability as it was scheduled to take place during the peak summer season.
"This withdrawal of flexibility will destroy our ability to operate a proper schedule as we will miss our airport slot times, parking stands, gate positions and will be unable to fulfil flight connections for customers. In addition pilot and cabin crew operational duties will be out of sync which may result in cabin crew having insufficient hours to operate all flights. This may lead to a full cancellation of operations from Tuesday 7 June unless Ialpa/Impact stand down their action."
He said that a bilateral process had been ongoing for some time to develop new manpower planning and roster models that would enable the airline to achieve the already agreed levels of productivity while providing pilots with better quality rosters.
"In recent weeks however, the issue has been exacerbated by shortage of pilots due to higher than expected levels of attrition in the UK."
Mr Mueller said that in recent days, the company had invited Ialpa/Impact to talks and is willing to work towards a mutually workable solution to this issue.
Fianna Fáil transport spokesman Timmy Dooley called on Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar to facilitate talks between the airline and Ialpa.
"The announcement of the action suggests there isn't appropriate communication between the company and staff representatives on the rostering issue. This is not the first time the issues of rosters has caused uncertainty for workers and passengers and I believe a mechanism must be put in place to bring about a conclusive resolution to this issue," he said.
"Secondly, the tourism industry has suffered significant difficulties and a dispute that leads to cancellations or deferred bookings on the part of passengers amid uncertainty is not good for the airline, the economy or the tourist industry."