IMPACT has asked the Pensions Board, which regulates pensions in the Republic, for a determination on the status of the Aer Lingus arrangements.

Aer Lingus has indicated to unions that it will seek to dispose of its in-flight catering division.

Senior executives have told staff representatives that catering does not feature in their plans for the airline and that 350 workers employed in the section will be briefed on the matter next Monday.

Management favours selling the operation as a going concern but has not ruled out closing it and outsourcing elsewhere.

Unions sources said chief executives Mr Willie Walsh outlined his wish to jettison the division at a meeting this week. When pressed, Mr Walsh stopped short of confirming a final decision had been made but revealed staff would be told next week that it was impossible for the airline to continue providing its own catering facilities. Sources at the company said the issue was still being considered but that employees could expect to hear on Monday that Aer Lingus wanted rid of its catering operations. "It's the first step of a process," one said.

"Aer Lingus cannot keep providing catering in its current form and has no wish to develop this side of its activities. It is not regarded as a core area."

It was unclear last night how much the catering section, which is based at Dublin Airport, would fetch but operations of a similar scale have been sold for €10-€20 million over recent years.

Unions have written to Mr Walsh demanding a meeting on the issue. They feel that selling or closing the section would contravene the spirit of the Aer Lingus survival plan, in which the firm agreed not to outsource services. "The people who work in catering made a decision to stay because they believed they had a future in the airline. Now they are going to be told they are not wanted," one source said.

Aer Lingus denies a policy shift, insisting it has always regarded catering as peripheral and that, with short-haul European routes accounting for an increasing percentage of traffic, it expected its requirements in this area to decrease significantly.

The airline is convinced substantial savings can be reaped through outsourcing to private contractors, saying that it is one of the few European carriers continuing to provide its own in-flight catering.

This latest controversy comes less then a week after worker directors from the two largest unions at the airline, SIPTU and IMPACT, refused to sign the company's accounts at a board meeting.

The unions have been fighting with the company since the publication of last year's accounts over what they argue is a detrimental change in the status of its pension scheme. The company insists there has been no change in pension arrangements.