Aer Lingus pilots accepted a deal agreed between management and union leaders on the establishment of a base at Belfast International Airport at meetings at Dublin Airport yesterday.

Around 180 members of Irish Airline Pilots' Association (Ialpa) members voted to accept the proposals yesterday morning, with the rest of the 480 pilots accepting them in a separate vote last night. Although a result of the ballot will not be formally announced until Thursday, the union confirmed the agreement was endorsed by a show of hands.

The agreement allows for pilots at the Belfast operation to be recruited on local pay and conditions. Similar arrangements will apply to other bases set up overseas in the future. A separate, defined-contribution pension scheme will also apply for pilots recruited for Belfast and any new hub.

However, pilots in the Republic moving to the North on secondment will retain their existing defined-benefit pension scheme, and pilots in the North transferring to the South will be able to use money in their pension fund to buy into the scheme in the Republic.

Aer Lingus will also recognise Impact / Ialpa as the representative body for pilots in Belfast. This will allow the union to have a role in the negotiation of future pay and conditions but not those in place on day one of the new operation.