Aer Lingus has “reluctantly accepted” a proposed solution to a long-running dispute over pensions.
A panel of experts involving government and unions says the Irish carrier should put an extra €37 million into a staff pension fund to plug a deficit.
The Irish labour court last year proposed the airline make a €110 million one-off payment to cover current employees.
But the new €146.7 million contribution proposal could prompt Ryanair to use its stake in Aer Lingus to vote against any move to increase its funding for the staff pension fund, according to reports in Dublin.
The carrier would also pay an additional €44 million to former staff who have yet to reach retirement age, resulting in a revised one-off payment of €190.7 million.
Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said this morning: “The solution recommended by the expert panel involves a significant increase in payments from the company.
“Aer Lingus reluctantly accept the recommendations of the expert panel as the only solution that is capable of acceptance by all the parties.”
But he warned: “Implementation of the solution will be very complex and will require a concerted effort by all of the parties.
“A significantly improved industrial relations environment is also a key requirement and a functioning internal dispute resolution mechanism must be established for this purpose. We strongly encourage all parties to work collaboratively to achieve these goals”.