SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

AER Lingus last week offered top pilots €5,000 in extra pay as well as 10 days extra holidays to captain flights to the US on their days-off in a bid to avoid chaos in its transatlantic schedule.

The airline’s Airbus A330 captains, who pilot its most lucrative transatlantic routes, turned down the offer, and a Dublin-Boston flight had to be flown by a hired-in charter airline, according to a number of separate aviation sources.

Aer Lingus insists there is no shortage of pilots.