Aer Lingus To Cut Over 100 Shannon Job

One of the main unions representing Aer Lingus workers have revealed the airline will be seeking over 102 redundancies in their Shannon operation.

The job cuts are believed to be primarily among cabin crew based at Shannon as part of its cost-cutting plan.

Yesterday it was revealed that Aer Lingus' long haul flights were responsible for up to 75% of the company's losses.

The company's Shannon crew undertake their New York service scheduled for four journeys a week.

A meeting between Aer Lingus management and staff at Shannon about the airline's radical cost-cutting plan broke up shortly after 6pm last night with a spokesperson for the company saying they outlined the cost-cutting plans to staff.

The spokesman added that the long haul flights were causing significant losses and the airline says they need to find savings over the next six weeks.

The spokesperson was not specific about how exactly the cuts would affect staff in Shannon but union sources later confirmed Aer Lingus is seeking 102 redundancies among cabin crew in Shannon and 229 cabin crew nationally.

On Thursday, Aer Lingus announced to staff in Cork and Shannon a "restructuring" plan was to be implemented and to expect almost 700 jobs to be cut.

Trade unions have reacted angrily, describing the plan as "extreme and draconian".

(DW/BMcC)