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Some 56 Aer Lingus flights cancelled this year due to pilot illness or being unavailable

The best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Aer Lingus pilots are due to being industrial action from June 26th. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien / The Irish Times

Ciarán Hancock's face
Ciarán Hancock
Thu Jun 20 2024 - 06:37

There is confusion over the timeline for new legal protections for student renters as the clock ticks down to the new academic year. One student in the University of Limerick was told he would lose his deposit and be held liable for rent if he vacated his accommodation after finishing his studies for the year. Ian Curran has the details.

Pat Crean of the Marlet Property Group recently made a €70 million-plus bid for the former QuickPark facility near Dublin Airport, which the airport’s chief executive has described as “the best car park in the whole campus”. Barry J Whyte has the latest twist in this ongoing saga.

Aer Lingus could ask rival airlines to carry passengers whose flights are cancelled as a result of pilots’ planned industrial action, the company has confirmed. Barry O’Halloran reports.

Barry also reports that pilot absences due to an increase in illness or other reasons forced Aer Lingus to cancel 56 flights over the past six months, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Aer Lingus has raised the pilots’ unavailability with IALPA/Fórsa, querying whether it was unofficial action.

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Aer Lingus is also where we begin this week’s Inside Business podcast with analysis of the consequences for holidaymakers from Conor Pope.

Sticking with an aviation theme, DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs told an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday that he has a portfolio of shares in 12 airlines that operate out of Dublin Airport, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest. Barry J Whyte has the details.

The EU’s move towards mass digital surveillance is ill judged, writes our technology columnist Karlin Lillington.

In Innovation, our columnist Chris Horn explains how new interactive technologies could help save the film industry from the growing creep of the digital gaming sector.

Boann Distillery a family-run Irish whiskey business, is preparing to launch its first batches of single pot whiskey on Friday, four years after embarking on the project at its facility in Co Meath. Ian Curran reports.

In our technology review, Ciara O’Brien tests Dyson’s latest haircare product, which will straighten your hair as it dries.

No sooner do annual house completions go past 30,000 for the first time since the 2008 crash than Davy publishes a report stating how the we will need to be build 85,000 units a year to accommodate our rising population, writes Cantillon.

Cantillon also notes how Nama’s €500m profit from various Dublin docklands developments will cushion the blow of likely losing out on the sale of the North Docks office block, which is set to see its equity value wiped out.

In our technology feature, Ciara O’Brien notes how Apple’s plan to focus on the personal side of AI is now taking centre stage after years of development.

In New Innovator, Olive Keogh profiles Slick+, a west of Ireland start-up that has developed a peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing platform based around short-format video.

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