Sir, – At the same time Aer Lingus workers continue to have difficulty in claiming statutory entitlements Aer Lingus are now set to deploy aircraft to the North of England and set up a base in Manchester which will operate transatlantic routes.
Routes out of Shannon have all been suspended.
To achieve this they will re-register aircraft in Britain using a subsidiary company called Aer Lingus UK Ltd. Local crews will be employed on cheaper pay, terms and conditions than Irish counterparts – an underlying threat to competitiveness that many other sectors will also face in a post-Brexit world.
So after the Irish taxpayer has effectively paid the wage bill of Aer Lingus since March, the company is deploying aircraft in Brexit Britain as opposed to reinstating routes out of Shannon.
A deep concern for Irish-based crews is that the Manchester base would operate flights in and out of Ireland to the US using layover trips and by so doing threaten Irish-based jobs.
Aer Lingus needs to confirm its commitment to reinstating flights from the Mid-West region and protect Irish jobs! It’s time they put back on the Green jersey. They owe us taxpayers that much. – Yours, etc,
ANNE-MARIE KEANE,
Co Limerick.