Aer Lingus has apologised for cancelling 11 flights today and tomorrow due to industrial action in France and a spike in Covid cases.
The airline has been forced to cancel a range of flights in recent weeks as operators and airports contend with staffing issues amid a surge in Covid illness and a rebound in air travel.
Aer Lingus cancelled a return flight from Dublin to Bilbao and a flight from Dubin to New York’s JFK today due to staff sickness.
Industrial action at Bordeaux Airport in France means a return flight from Dublin was also cancelled.
Tomorrow, illness has caused the cancellation of return flights from Dublin to London Gatwick and Knock to Gatwick.
A mandate by Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, which has set a cap on the number of passengers it will handle during the summer travel season due to labour shortages, sees a cancellation of a return flight from Dublin to the Dutch capital.
An Aer Lingus spokesperson said: “Due to a spike in Covid cases, Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel one return flight, and one one-way flight, today 8 July, and two return flights, Saturday 9 July.
“Aer Lingus wishes to apologise to those impacted and teams at the airline are working to re-accommodate impacted passengers on the next available services as efficiently as possible.
“Impacted passengers will be contacted directly by Aer Lingus.
“Aer Lingus anticipated the return of demand for travel once Covid restrictions were removed and built appropriate buffers into our plans in order to deal with a reasonable level of additional disruption.
“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.
“We have shared detail regarding customers’ rights and the airlines’ obligations under Regulation (EC) 261/2004.”
News: RTE