There are growing fears that even slight delays connected to air traffic control problems, weather or any other issues could quickly lead to chaos at Dublin Airport, with an indefinite work-to-rule by Aer Lingus pilots set to get under way on Wednesday.
As a result of the industrial action, the airline announced the cancellation of a further 50 flights on Monday and Tuesday of next week with most of the cancellations on short-haul business routes to airports in cities including London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.
A total of 270 flights have now been pulled from the Aer Lingus schedules over the next seven days with airline management saying it had taken the step “in order to continue to protect as many services as possible” from the impact of the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association’s (Ialpa) continuing industrial action.
In a statement it said it was “continuing to offer a number of options to customers who may be impacted by the industrial action”.
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People scheduled to travel over the next week are to be given the option to change their flights for free. They will also be able to cancel their flight and claim a refund or voucher.
“Aer Lingus fully understands the anxiety being experienced by customers given the uncertainty caused by Ialpa’s industrial action and is giving customers as many options as possible, should they wish to change their plans,” the statement concluded.
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Irish Travel Agents Association chief executive Clare Dunne said things had “settled a little bit” since the weekend but just as her members “were sort of sitting back and saying ‘Okay, let’s take a breath’, we had these new cancellations,”
She said that from the perspective of holidaymakers, the fresh wave of cancellations “isn’t as bad and it’s very much in line with the work-to-rule cancellations last week. They’re very much the business routes so it’s easier to manage them,” she told The Irish Times.
“We’re waiting, really, with bated breath to see what’s actually going to happen once the work-to-rule starts to see if there will be mass cancellations at airport gates and if there is going to be people sitting there, checked in [and] ready to get on the plane only to be told ‘sorry’.”
She said that was “definitely a possibility if there’s any sort of air traffic control issues or if there is any other reason an aircraft is delayed and the outbound pilots [then] say they can’t fly because if they do they will be out of hours because of the work-to-rule.”
The owner of the TravelExtra website Eoghan Corry played down fears of chaotic scenes but warned a resolution could still be some way off.
“If there’s an orderly cancellation the chaos at the gates won’t happen,” he said.
“The process of getting talks started has begun but they are a long way off getting Aer Lingus and Ialpa in the same room and there will be a lot of saying no before they’re saying yes to anything,” he said.
“My feeling is there won’t be any breakthrough until probably the weekend and the pilots won’t take the pressure off and they will keep ramping it up and they’ll keep scaring the pants off the passengers.”
Mr Corry noted that even if there are talks at the Labour Court the cancelled flights won’t be reinstated and a considerable level of financial pain will be inflicted on the airline.
“It has already cost Aer Lingus around €7 million and that cost is likely to run to twice that before it is resolved, he said.
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