A difficult week for air travel in Ireland continues.
Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel another batch of flights as a difficult week for the airline continues as a result of a Covid-19 outbreak amongst its staff.
On Sunday, 13 Aer Lingus flights to and from Dublin Airport were cancelled due to both the impact of Covid and industrial strike action, with the airline apologising to affected customers. 12 further flights were cancelled on Wednesday, with the airline once more citing “system pressures”.
On Thursday, system pressures were once again in effect as yet more flights were cancelled. Now, as a new month gets underway, Aer Lingus has cancelled nine return flights and one direct flight for Friday (1 July), with three return flights scheduled for Saturday also shelved.
Details on all affected flights in and out of the airport today (as of 8.45am on Friday) can be seen below:
Departures
10:45 London Heathrow – British Airways
13:30 Bordeaux – Aer Lingus
14:00 Amsterdam – Aer Lingus
15:10 London Gatwick – Aer Lingus
18:45 Brussels – Aer Lingus
19:20 Birmingham – Aer Lingus
19:30 London Gatwick – Aer Lingus
19:45 Lisbon – Air Tap Portugal
Arrivals
10:00 London Heathrow – British Airways
13:40 Zurich – Aer Lingus
18:05 Amsterdam – Aer Lingus
18:20 Bordeaux – Aer Lingus
18:50 London Gatwick – Aer Lingus
19:00 Lisbon – Air Tap Portugal
21:55 Birmingham – Aer Lingus
22:50 Brussels – Aer Lingus
22:55 London Gatwick – Aer Lingus
Live information can be found on the Dublin Airport website here.
Aer Lingus has again referred to the Covid spike affecting its personnel, though it did note that just over 1% of its flights have been affected by cancellations throughout the month of June.
The airline has apologised to those who have been impacted by the latest cancellations and continues to publicly respond to customer complaints via social media.
Earlier this week, the Dublin Airport Authority said that a contingency plan to introduce Defence Forces assistance at the airport would only materialise in the event of a Covid-fuelled emergency scenario.
Appearing on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Thursday, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan was asked if airlines cancelling flights because of Covid was a matter of concern to him.
“Absolutely, our concern here is obviously first and foremost with the travelling public and their inconvenience,” he replied.
“It’s the reason we have the Defence Forces now on standby or will have them on standby from 6 July – to prepare for that eventuality that Covid numbers would make it difficult to get the full capacity out of the airport.
“The airlines, obviously, they have to manage there. We don’t run their scheduling service. But that is happening right across Europe.
“It’s a very difficult time for aviation. Covid has disrupted everything both in terms of getting stuff back but also now staff being out with Covid. We will have to work our way through it, a difficult period.
“But I’m convinced particularly with the help of the Defence Forces now in the airport that we can and will do that.”
Featured Images via Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
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