Aer Lingus has issued a profit warning, saying the threat of further strikes by cabin crew had put passengers off booking tickets on the airline for several months ahead. This will knock up to €12m (£9.6m) off annual profits.
Cabin crew at the Irish airline had already walked out over the busy bank holiday weekend at the start of June in a row over work rosters and job cuts. The Irish public sector workers' union Impact had called a further two-day strike on 16 and 18 June, which threatened to disrupt the travel plans of up to 70,000 passengers, but it was postponed on Wednesday night following an intervention by the labour court in Dublin.
The threat of further strike action has caused "significant damage" to Aer Lingus's bookings for several months into the future, the carrier admitted on Thursday.
Aer Lingus warned that 2014 operating profits, excluding one-off items, would be 10% to 20% lower than last year's €61m. "The outcome will depend in part on the speed with which we can win back customer confidence," the company said.
Just a fortnight ago, it still thought that operating profits would be similar to those last year, after enjoying a strong performance in April across short and long-haul flights.
Aer Lingus remains in mediated talks with the union to try to avert another wave of damaging strikes over work rosters, which cabin crew members say are erratic and exhausting.