Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion has appealed directly to individual pilots to call off their planned 48-hour strike scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Shannon yesterday, he said that the strike was "wholly unnecessary" and would damage "all of our interests associated with the organisation".
Mr Mannion said that the airline had exhausted every available option open to it under State industrial relations machinery to resolve the dispute.
He said the Irish Airline Pilots' Association branch of Impact had not put to its members the terms of a report produced by industrial relations consultant Phil Flynn under the auspices of the Labour Court, which recommended that the company should be allowed to recruit staff at new bases on local market rates. "In those circumstances, we have to be very, very careful that we are not just getting involved in another process for the sake of it."
"There has been a tremendous amount of interaction and for exactly that reason, I am calling on individual pilots in Aer Lingus, who have shown great loyalty to the organisation in the past, to please cancel the strike action for Tuesday and come back to work", he said.
Separately, Mr Mannion said yesterday that the airline would consider the operation of short-haul services again from Shannon in the future. However, he told politicians, workers and the business leaders from the mid-west that the decision to end the Shannon to Heathrow route would not be changed.
He said that when slots at Heathrow airport, which are currently leased out to other airlines were returned in 2009 and 2011, Aer Lingus would consider its options for allocating these on the basis of the competing opportunities available and that Shannon would form part of these deliberations.
Pressed as to whether the airline would consider a restoration of the Shannon to Heathrow service in the future, Mr Mannion said: "We are prepared to look at short-haul and long-haul opportunities from this airport in the future. I can't say any more."
He added that the airline would operate its daily flights from Shannon to New York, Boston and Chicago via Dublin at least until October 2008.
Mr Mannion said that the volume of negative comment arising from the Heathrow decision had exceeded anything that the company imagined.
There were angry exchanges between Mr Mannion and a group of nearly 30 local councillors from Co Clare, who insisted that his meeting with them should be held in public. The councillors strongly criticised the decision and warned of its impact on the local economy.
Speaking after a meeting with Aer Lingus management, John Brassil, chairman of the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, said the group was disappointed Mr Mannion came to Shannon with the idea that the decision was final.
"We pointed out in as firm and strong a manner as possible that proceeding with this decision is fraught with danger for them and will do irreparable damage to their brand, their image and their customers," he said.
Employers' group Ibec said that it had had a full and frank exchange with Aer Lingus management yesterday and expressed the concern of the business community about the ending of the Heathrow service.
