Aer Lingus cancels some flights from summer schedule

A number of flights from Aer Lingus have been canceled from its summer schedule due to what it described as “mandatory maintenance on aircraft”.

The airline said a “limited number” of arrangements were made, adding that the “vast majority of customers” were accommodated on same-day services.

This comes after the Sunday Independent reported that “more than 500” Aer Lingus flights had been cut.

The schedule changes apply to around 2% of Aer Lingus’ overall schedule, the airline said.

The Sunday Independent reports that flights from Dublin to airports in Europe, including Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Faro and Zurich, will be removed from the schedule on various dates.

It was also stated that flights to London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh will be canceled and passengers will have to book other services.

What is the impact of rising fuel prices?

On Thursday, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) He warned that Europe had “perhaps six weeks of jet fuel left.”

The Strait of Hormuz, a key route for jet fuel from the Gulf, has been effectively closed by Iran for more than six weeks in response to US and Israeli attacks, leading to rising prices and fears of shortages.

As a result, the IEA said the crisis had “thrown a proverbial monkey wrench into the inner workings of aviation fuel markets”.

A lot Airlines around the world were forced to take urgent measures To counteract the rising cost of fuel, which typically accounts for 20-40% of operating costs.

While Aer Lingus says the cancellations are due to aircraft maintenance, travel journalist Simon Calder believes this may reflect greater difficulties faced by many airlines.

“Across Europe, airlines are cutting some of their summer services as a doubling of fuel costs means some routes are no longer profitable,” he said.

Irish Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said the country had a solid aviation supply.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, he said: “Our supplies are solid. We have a 70-day reserve.”

He added that Ireland buys its jet fuel from the US and that airlines “will make separate decisions from the government”.

Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) President Mark Tighe said that Aer Lingus had canceled flights in a similar manner in previous years while the situation in Iran was on everyone’s mind.

He believes the cancellations were due to pilot shortages. He explained that pilots were frequently contacted on their days off and asked to work.

Tighe also said that this year, the company could not give pilots all the annual leaves they were entitled to under the contract due to deficiencies.

He said the airline did not have a “fuel cost problem” because Aer Lingus hedged its aviation fuel, unlike US operators with whom it competed.

“The situation in Iran is critical for our industry and we are watching carefully to see what happens in the future,” he continued.