Dublin Airport: 27% of flight cancellations within six hours of takeoff

James Cox

Twenty-seven per cent of flights cancelled at Dublin Airport this week were chalked off within six hours of takeoff.

Passengers have been expressing their frustrations as staff shortages at airports and airlines have led to a cluster of cancelled flights across Europe.

Aer Lingus is the latest operator to apologise to customers as it has cancelled another four outbound flights that were scheduled for tomorrow.

Travel expert Eoghan Corry said companies need to give people more time to deal with the cancellations.

Mr Corry told Newstalk: "The real problem, I did a count today, 27 per cent of the flights cancelled within the last week in Dublin Airport were within six hours, so that's a big problem when passengers are already in the airport. I'm expecting to see less of that going forward."

Defence Forces

Meanwhile, the cost of sending Defence Force personnel to the airport will be fully covered by the DAA.

That is according to the Transport Minister as members of the army prepare to help out airport staff from next week.

There has been more travel chaos this week with 10 Aer Lingus flights suffering Covid related cancellations between today and tomorrow.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said an agreement has been reached to ease the pressure on airport staff this summer.

Mr Ryan told Newstalk: "All those arrangements, there will be an agreement between the Department of Defence and Dublin Airport. Dublin Airport will be paying fully for the measures that they will need."