Aer Lingus pilots are seeking a 70 per cent rise to bring their salaries in line with those in British Airways, a strategic partner in the One World Alliance.
This would raise the top of the Aer Lingus pilots' scale from £92,000 to £159,000. Aer Lingus has so far offered to raise the scale to £105,000.
Meanwhile IMPACT, the union representing pilots, is also seeking significant increases for Aer Lingus managers. Its assistant general secretary, Mr Michael Landers, says managers' pay has fallen well behind traditional comparators such as principal officers in the Civil Service.
In 1987 senior Aer Lingus managers earned £23,300, compared with £24,900 for principal officers. Today, the top of the company manager scale is £39,000, while principal officers earn around £53,000.
Mr Landers said managers started at £23,000 and it could take 34 years to reach £39,000. "Like other Aer Lingus employees, managers have seen their pay artificially depressed during the bad times. We see this pay claim as restoring a normal equilibrium."
On pilots, Mr Landers said the claim reflected the international market. Ryanair captains, who generally operate on shorter-haul flights, earn £105,000 already and their co-pilots about 25 per cent less.
About half of Aer Lingus pilots have joined in the past three years and earn less than £35,000. The company offer was an "indication that significant improvements in pay are needed", Mr Landers said, "but it will have to dig deeper to settle this dispute".
Aer Lingus director of group corporate affairs, Mr Dan Loughrey, said there was "no justification" for the international comparators in the pilots' claim. "We have to manage pay in terms of the Irish market and what our own business can afford."
He pointed out that pilots have an independent review mechanism allowing them to seek increases separately from national wage agreements. Their last independent review was in 1999.
On the managers' claim, Mr Loughrey said Civil Service comparisons were no longer appropriate. "We have to manage our business with what the airline sector can pay."
The company has offered increases of between five per cent and 10 per cent, a shortening of the incremental scales from 34 to 20 points and a long service increment worth £2,500.
However, IMPACT says only 13 per cent of managers would gain the full benefits of the package.