LRC talks between Aer Lingus cabin crew and management continued through the night and concluded at 5am this morning (Friday). The settlement proposals that emerged would mean that the Shannon cabin crew base will be retained and that work on new transatlantic routes will be carried out by Aer Lingus employees if the proposals are accepted.

Under the proposals, the transatlantic operation would start with five crew and a comprehensive joint review would take place in July 2014 to consider patterns of traffic across the year and whether crewing arrangements should respond to seasonal factors.

IMPACT official Michael Landers welcomed the fact that the initial flights would have five cabin crew where possible.  "This was one of our key demands. However, cabin crew staff would prefer to work with five cabin crew rather than having the additional financial incentives outlined in these proposals. This dispute was never about money. The review that's been included in these proposals will, I'm sure, show that it is impractical to operate with less than five crew," he said.

IMPACT's cabin crew branch committee will meet later today to make arrangements to ballot members on the proposals and consider whether to make a recommendation.