Aer Lingus has announced a raft of flight cancellations from Dublin Airport and across Europe amid ongoing Covid-19 illness absences and strike action among ground handling staff in France.
A list of flights cancelled on Friday and Saturday has now been made available with flights to and from London, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam and Brussels all grounded, leaving passengers seeking alternative travel arrangements.
Aer Lingus has cancelled a total of 31 flights over the entire weekend with 21 flights grounded on Friday. Aer Lingus say they are working to accommodate passengers on the next available operating services.
Read More : Travel chaos LIVE: Dublin Airport hit by Aer Lingus cancellations
You can see the full list of flights cancelled on Friday and Saturday below:
Flights cancelled due to illness - Friday, July 1:
HEATHROW-DUBLIN EI149
DUBLIN-HEATHROW-DUBLIN EI164/5
DUBLIN-MUNICH-DUBLIN EI356/7
DUBLIN-DUSSELDORF-DUBLIN EI692/3
DUBLIN-ZURICH-DUBLIN EI432/EI343
DUBLIN-AMSTERDAM-DUBLIN EI608/EI609
DUBLIN-LONDON GATWICK-DUBLIN EI238/EI243
DUBLIN-BRUSSELS-DUBLIN EI638/EI369
DUBLIN-BIRMINGHAM-DUBLIN EI276/EI277
DUBLIN-LONDON GATWICK-DUBLIN EI248/EI249
Flights delayed due to ground handling staff strike at Bordeaux - Friday, July 1:
DUBLIN-BORDEAUX-DUBLIN EI506/7
Flights cancelled due to illness - Saturday, July 2
DUBLIN-AMSTERDAM-DUBLIN EI610/EI611
LONDON GATWICK-KNOCK-LONDON GATWICK EI911/EI912
DUBLIN-LONDON GATWICK EI232
LONDON GATWICK-DUBLIN EI237
Flights cancelled due to ground handling industrial action at Lyon - Saturday, July 2:
DUBLIN-LYON-DUBLIN EI550/EI551
DUBLIN-LYON-DUBLIN EI552/EI553
In a statement to the Irish Mirror, Aer Lingus said they have been "forced to cancel" the flights "due to a spike in Covid cases" and "ground handling industrial action" at both Bordeaux and Lyon Airports.
A spokesperson said: "Due to a spike in Covid cases, Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel nine return flights and one direct flight today Friday, July 1, and three return flights tomorrow, Saturday, July 2.
"Additionally, ground handling industrial action at Bordeaux Airport and Lyon Airport has required the cancellation of one return flight to Bordeaux today, Friday, July 1 and two return flights to Lyon tomorrow, Saturday, July 2."
The airline was keen to stress that "just over 1% of Aer Lingus flights have been impacted by cancellations in June" but did add, "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."
The spokesperson went on to say: "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," they concluded.
In Europe, about 10% of all flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport were cancelled due to strikes by ground personnel on Thursday and similar disruption is expected on Friday, a spokesman for airport operator ADP said.
Several European airlines and airports have experienced strikes in recent weeks and more travel disruptions are expected next month as airline workers use strong travel demand and staff shortages to get better working conditions.
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