Three flights have been cancelled at Dublin Airport so far today, including two Aer Lingus flights to France.
This morning, the 7.50am British Airways flight to London LHR, flight BA831 was called off.
The 11.40am Aer Lingus flight EI552 to Lyon has also been cancelled, as well as the 13.30pm Aer Lingus flight to Bordeaux EI506, due to Covid-19.
An Aer Lingus spokesperson said: “Industrial action at Bordeaux Airport, Lyon Airport and Pisa Airport has required the mandatory cancellation of two return flights on Friday, two return flights on Saturday, and one return flight on Sunday.
“Elevated levels of sickness amongst our employees associated with the latest Covid wave, has forced Aer Lingus to cancel two return flights on Friday.”
Other Aer Lingus flights that have been delayed are the 12.40pm flight to Donegal and the 9.20am flight to Newcastle.
Ryanair’s 16.50pm flight to Naples has also bee delayed, as well as Turkish Airlines flight TK4074 at 9.55am to Antalya.
Lufthansa flight LH977 at 9.50am to Frankfurt and the airlines 10.30am flight to Munich have also been called off.
Although there are currently no cancelled Aer Lingus flights to London, they have explained that due to London Heathrow’s capacity reduction one way flights will be cancelled over the weekend.
“Due to London Heathrow’s mandated capacity reduction, Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel one one-way flight each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Due to the large number of flights from London Heathrow, Aer Lingus will look to minimise disruption caused to customers by these mandated flight cancellations,” an Aer Lingus spokesperson said.
“We are currently awaiting further direction from Heathrow Airport to understand the impact on the Aer Lingus schedule beyond that date.
“Our teams are working to re-accommodate those impacted as efficiently as possible.
“Aer Lingus wishes to apologise to our customers who have been impacted by these cancellations.
“Aer Lingus anticipated the return of demand for travel once Covid restrictions were removed and built buffers into our plans to deal with a reasonable level of additional disruption.
“However, a significant spike in Covid cases in recent weeks, combined with system pressures and ongoing issues at some airports and among third party suppliers have created considerable additional operational challenges.”