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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Emma Nevin

Aer Lingus reveals reason behind surge in flight cancellations with further disruption possible

Aer Lingus have said recent flight cancellations is due to a spike in Covid-19 cases among staff.

Today, the airline cancelled six return flights from Dublin and on Sunday over a dozen services to and from the capital were scrapped. The airline has not ruled out further disruption in the coming days, saying "should crew illness require the cancellation of additional flights in the coming days, they will seek to re-accommodate passengers on the next available services as efficiently as possible".

The airline apologised to affected customers and said their teams were working to secure alternative travel options.

Read more: Aer Lingus apologises after cancelled flights causes major disruption to and from Dublin Airport

A spokeswoman told Dublin Live: "Due to a spike in Covid cases Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel 6 return flights from Dublin today, Wednesday 29 June. Our teams are working to secure alternative travel options for customers in each case and wish to apologise to those impacted for the inconvenience.

"Just over 1% of Aer Lingus flights have been impacted by cancellations this month. Should crew illness require the cancellation of additional flights in the coming days, we will seek to re-accommodate passengers on the next available services as efficiently as possible."

The spokeswoman added that system pressures and ongoing issues at some airports have created "considerable operational challenges". She said: "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 the airlines’ obligations under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 which can be found here: www.aerlingus.com/support/legal/regulation."

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