Aer Lingus in pilot standoff as captains refuse E5,000 extra to fly on their day off

Aer Lingus last week offered top pilots E5,000 in extra pay - as well as 10 days' extra holidays - to captain flights to the US on their day off in a bid to avoid chaos in its transatlantic schedule. The airline's Airbus A330 captains - who pilot the airline's 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. Flights from Chicago were also delayed by as much as 7 hours both this weekend and last weekend. However, when contacted for comment, an Aer Lingus spokeswoman insisted: "There is no shortage of pilots in Aer Lingus." The pilots claim that the airline must bring in new recruits to ease the strain they believe they are under due to rapid transatlantic expansion since Aer Lingus was taken over by IAG. <br/>