Aer Lingus management and representatives of its pilots held talks in the latest attempt to resolve the row over the airline's plan to establish a new base in Belfast.
Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion led a four-person management delegation into the talks at the airline's head office in Dublin Airport. The union side was headed by Shay Cody, deputy general secretary of the trade union Impact.
The meeting ended shortly before 1pm with neither side willing to comment ahead of another meeting on Friday. Aer Lingus will now not publish, as previously expected, the terms and conditions to apply for pilot and cabin crew at its new base in Belfast.
Talks between Aer Lingus and the Irish Airline Pilots Association branch of Impact at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), which took place for several days last week, were adjourned last Friday.
Today's talks were the first time the airline and union have met face-to-face since the row over the Belfast base broke out last month. At the LRC last week, the parties were in separate rooms.
A spokesman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey described today's talks as "very positive".
Michael Landers, assistant general secretary of Impact, said today the fact that both sides were now talking about the issues was "progress". It is expected that the union will now consult with its members over the coming days.
The talks at the LRC averted a planned 48-hour strike by nearly 500 pilots at Aer Lingus last month. The union says pilots in Belfast would be employed under worse terms and conditions than those applying in the Republic.
Aer Lingus has said that pilots in Belfast will receive higher pay, at the earlier points of the scale at least, than those in the Republic.
Sources said that the company had received 1,100 applicants for the 100 posts on offer.