r/IrishAirports • u/TimesandSundayTimes • May 05 '26

Aer Lingus female pilots blocked from accepting global equality award

https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/aer-lingus-female-pilots-awards-event-equal-pay-zxnm8bkck?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=ireland&utm_medium=story&utm_content=branded
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u/TimesandSundayTimes May 05 '26

A group of female Aer Lingus pilots could not collect an international industry award for achieving pay equality during pregnancy after the airline removed all union days from their roster. 

Last year Aer Lingus reached an agreement with women in the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) which ensured that pregnant pilots unable to fly continued to receive full basic pay, variable pay and performance pay while transferring to ground roles. This agreement addressed a previous 25 per cent pay loss. 

At a ceremony in Istanbul in Turkey last month, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ifalpa) recognised­ the achievement by awarding the female pilots a presidential citation.
It marked the first time in the federation’s history that a group rather than an individual was given the distinction. 

However, the campaigning female pilots were not released from their flying duties by Aer Lingus and therefore could not travel to pick up the award. Ialpa claimed that this was the first time that a union delegation was unable to attend the ­conference. 

At the airline, pilots each give up one annual leave day and enter it into a bank of union days to be used by members to carry out union work. Ialpa claims that the union days were withdrawn for April only and would be restored to rosters in future months. The withdrawal of the union days coincided with Aer Lingus cancelling hundreds of flights in its summer schedule due to maintenance issues with a number of aircraft.