Aer Lingus is to commence negotiations with unions representing staff at the airline about cuts of up to 900 jobs.
It is understood that at a briefing this morning, union representatives were told that in order to cut costs across the board, the company is seeking to reduce its 4,500-strong workforce by up to 20%.
The timing of the cuts will depend on the outcome of further consultation with unions over the next few weeks.
So far it is not yet clear which jobs, routes or services will be targeted in the cutbacks.
A month ago Aer Lingus halved the working hours and pay of staff because of the reductions in capacity and passenger travel due to the coronavirus.
It warned back then that if the operating schedule reduced further, or if full grounding of operations was required, there would be a necessity for further measures.
It is understood that the job cuts being sought by Aer Lingus will be via a voluntary redundancy scheme.
Aer Lingus would not comment on the situation, saying only that it is continuing to communicate directly with its employees and engage with their representative bodies.
Its parent company, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns British Airways, along with Spain's Iberia and the low cost Vueling carrier, said on Tuesday that its operations lost €535m in the first three months of the year.
Ryanair earlier today said it could take at least two years for passenger demand to return to normal and this could result in up to 3,000 jobs losses, mainly among pilots and cabin crew.
