Aer Lingus has defended its cancellation of more than 20 flights from Shannon Airport over the past two weeks.
The airline has repeatedly cancelled its Shannon to New York and Boston services since October 10th because of a shortage of aircraft. Some flights between Shannon and London Heathrow were also dropped.
The carrier’s woes began on October 7th when one of its transatlantic fleet was damaged by fire at Orlando Airport in Florida. On October 10th, it cancelled its Shannon to New York EI-111 service as well as the return flight. The 258 passengers affected were offered alternative flights or a full refund. On the 12th and 13th of this month, cancellations of New York and Boston services left 669 passengers to make alternative arrangements.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said: “These cancellations were due to a technical issue with one of our long- haul aircraft meaning we have not had sufficient aircraft available to operate our full long-haul schedule.
“When such instances necessitate the cancellation of flights we cancel the flights within our long-haul schedule which have the lowest number of bookings on that particular day,” the airline said.
