More Aer Lingus flights cancelled due to Covid surge

Disruption to international travel will continue this week, with Aer Lingus forced to cancel further flights on Monday due to a spike in Covid cases.

A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus apologised to those affected by the cancellations, but said just over 1 per cent of its flights had been affected by the issue in June.

Six Aer Lingus flights on Berlin, Manchester and Rome routes on Monday have been cancelled, the airline confirmed. No flight cancellations had been announced for Tuesday as of late Sunday. There were also six flights cancelled on Sunday, to and from Milan, Lisbon and Amsterdam.

The airline apologised and said its teams were working to re-accommodate impacted passengers. A spokeswoman said the airline had anticipated the return for demand post-Covid and built in buffers to deal with reasonable level of disruption.

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However, she said: “System pressures and ongoing issues at some airports and among third-party suppliers have created considerable operational challenges which have been compounded by a significant spike in Covid cases in recent days.”

Alan and Tammy Clancy said they discovered their flight to Amsterdam on Monday evening had been cancelled only when they were unable to check in online.

The couple, who are bringing their two sons to a Eurocamp campsite, said they rang the helpline and were on hold for two hours before they were offered an alternative flight on Thursday, which they said would cost them an additional €1,400.

“Our accommodation is €2,600 for 10 days; that’s non-refundable. So if we’re not there then we lose out,” Mrs Clancy said.

The family of four instead sourced a new flight from Belfast airport with airline EasyJet on Monday evening.

“Our son has just done his Junior Cert and we told him that if he works really, really hard, we’ll do a really fun holiday. It’s left a bit of a bad taste in our mouth with Aer Lingus, and we’re also worried about coming back, whether that flight is going to be cancelled.”

Separately, Ryanair said it expected minimal, if any, disruption to its flights operating to and from Spain as a result of cabin crew strikes. The 12 days of action later this month to demand better working conditions were announced by the USO and SICTPLA unions on Saturday.

In a statement, Ryanair said less than 1 per cent of its flights had been affected in the past month by “recent minor and poorly supported cabin crew strikes called by unions who are either not recognised by or who represent tiny numbers of Ryanair crews”.

“Air traffic control and airport staff shortages across Europe, which are beyond Ryanair’s control may, however, cause some minor disruption.”

Meanwhile, Niall Phillips, Siptu’s aviation sector organiser, said the union’s members had been given reassurance over the deployment of Defence Force members in the airport, following discontent from staff about the plan.

Last week the Government confirmed Defence Force personnel would be made available to the airport as a contingency plan to ensure there was no repeat of the chaos at the airport in May that saw more than 1,300 passengers miss their flights.

The contingency plan would be triggered only in the event of a spike in infections of Covid-19 among airport security officers where the related absenteeism exceeded 20 per cent of scheduled staff, Mr Phillips said.

“At no time will our members in VCP [vehicle control posts] be asked, or required, to work alongside Defence Force members or to train them. The DAA has put in place alternative arrangements for the training of Defence Force personnel which do not involve our members.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said it was not the job of the Defence Forces to run a State airport, but the job of the DAA.

The plan will be in place from July 6th until August 15th, and is viewed as a “last resort”.

“I don’t volunteer the Defence Forces easily. But if there is an emergency, if Ireland’s international reputation is at stake – which it is, of course, if Dublin Airport systems collapse – then the Defence Forces will be there and competent as they always are in terms of assisting,” he told RTÉ.