Aer Lingus, the Irish national airline, has met with delays in the proposed release of its latest profit figures owing to cabin crew members rejecting a range of new cost-cutting proposals.

Raher, the under-fire carrier will instead issue a new trading update and will delay the release of the much anticipated profit details for a later date. Industry experts have been projecting that the troubled Irish airline could be facing a 2009 loss of up to 90m euro. The forecasted profit announcement from Aer Lingus was to have included restructuring charges but these will now be factored into the later profit statement. The delay in making the details public comes as a direct result of action by cabin crew members who have voted to reject the cost-cutting initiatives.

According to an official press statement, a recent staff ballot by Aer Lingus had left the group with much to contemplate in relation to costs that are associated with the restructuring plans, which have subsequently impacted on preliminary profit projections. The airline’s stocks were affected by the events as share prices slipped by 1.6 percent over the course of the day’s trading, despite showing some positive early signs. By the day’s end the shares were trading at 60 euro (54p).

2009 was a challenging year for the Irish airline, which had to fend off two strong bids from fellow market player Ryanair. To stop such a takeover, Aer Lingus had planned to reduce its staffing levels by up to 20 percent, which would save an estimated 97m euro (£79m). The cost reduction proposals have been agreed to by ground staff, middle management and pilot members in principal, however, cabin crew members represented by the Impact union have rejected the latest proposal while a decision will be made on the deal later this week by maintenance staff.