
“This isn’t to deflect blame on any one party but to be a reminder that aviation can be viewed as an ecosystem where delays in one part combine and escalate to cause delays in another part – it’s not just about how quickly baggage is loaded on and off the aircraft.” Moloney said that because of baggage’s “position at the end of the process, it’s often the baggage handlers who have to absorb the knock-on effects of delays further up the chain, so that they’re already facing a delay before they get to start on their part”. Tully said that a rapid return in demand for air travel has “exacerbated” resource challenges.īoth men pointed to the implementation of an EU regulation that heightened security background checks at the start of this year, saying that it dramatically slowed recruitment for the first three months of 2022.Īdditionally, restrictions against non-EU licence holders from driving at the airport is another barrier. He said staffing levels at security have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels and over 85% of passengers are getting through security in half an hour or less.Ġ1.07.22 Multiple flights cancelled by Aer Lingus today as further disruption expected this weekendīoth Moloney and Tony Tully, the Director Of Ground Operations for Swissport in the UK and Ireland, said many of their staff left during the pandemic for other jobs It was causing bottlenecks at bag drop and check in, she said.ĭublin Airport’s Managing Director Vincent Harrison said security in the airport is now “far more robust” than the weekend of May 29th, when 1,400 passengers missed their flights.
#Aer lingus com plus#
She said DAA’s current advice to arrive 2.5 hours before takeoff for short-haul flights, and 3.5 hours for long haul – plus another hour to check bags in – was “problematic”.


#Aer lingus com full#
In her opening statement, Embleton said Aer Lingus “planned for and were prepared” for the return to full flight schedules after the pandemic, but said “this readiness was not matched by airports and ground handlers”. The Irish airline cancelled 1.8% of its flights in June, compared to one in 10 Lufthansa flights, 7% of Air France flights, KLM’s 11% and EasyJet’s 14%. I can’t give an absolute guarantee on it.”Įmbleton apologised to passengers whose flights had been cancelled recently, but noted that Aer Lingus’s cancellation rate for last month was lower than several other European airlines. He said all flights had standbys in place for the bank holiday weekend. Heathrow has said it will continue to cap flights until at least late October.Įmbleton said Aer Lingus had “less visibility” of how this would affect its own flight schedule into the autumn.ĬOO Peter O’Neill said there will be cancellations between now and then. She said last-minute cancellations were mostly a result of staff contracting Covid, but most cancelled flights were as a result of flight caps in other European airports. The airline appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee today along with representatives for Dublin Airport operator DAA and baggage handling companies Swissport and Sky Handling Partner (SHP).Īer Lingus has been in hot water in recent weeks over cancelled flights, long delays and baggage handling issues, resulting in luggage going missing or arriving several days after passengers reach their destination.ĬEO Lynn Embleton said the airline will give passengers as much notice as possible if their flight is cancelled.

AER LINGUS HAS said it intends to run a full schedule of flights this bank holiday weekend, but cannot guarantee that there will be no cancellations.
