An Aer Lingus passenger filmed the moment that staff announced their flight would not be able to take off.
The flight from Dublin to London was supposed to take off at 7pm on 3 July. The announcement came after the plane had been delayed for two hours on the runway.
An attendant explained that staff had gone over the number of hours they can legally work. The journey to Gatwick was cancelled and all the passengers disembarked.
Read more: Dublin Airport LIVE: Several Aer Lingus flights cancelled today
A flight attendant announced said: ""Some of my crew have run out of hours. This is a legal maximum that they are allowed to work per day and it is regulated by the aviation authorities.
"We have no choice now but unfortunately I have had to cancel the flight. There is an air bridge coming up to the door at the moment. We are going to be opening the door shortly. We would ask that you take everything with you."
Grace later went onto say that the seatbelt sign was already on and that the safety demonstrations had been carried out.
People were shocked by the flight cancellation with many worried about their own upcoming holidays. One person said: "They know they are short staffed, so why let people board in the first place?"
Another wrote: "I would've offered to be a crew member to get things going."
A third person commented: "I always feel for the crew. They do their best and are professionals. It's only a flight after all. Safety first."
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman told Dublin Live that staff on the flight ended up working "out of hours" as they had flown as many hours as they legally can under international aviation law.
She said: "Due to Air Traffic Control (ATC) restrictions at London Gatwick on Sunday 03 July, Aer Lingus was forced to cancel return flight EI238/EI239, Dublin-London Gatwick-Dublin. Continuous delays, caused by ATC restrictions, to the flight’s departure from Dublin, resulted in crew being ‘out of hours’.
"Passengers were re-accommodated on the next available flights and were provided with hotel accommodation as required. Aer Lingus wishes to apologise to those customers that have been impacted, and has shared detail regarding customers’ rights and airlines’ obligations under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 which can be found here: www.aerlingus.com/support/legal/regulation."
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