MORE THAN 200 people who were stranded in Cyprus for more than 48 hours after their tour operator went out of business on Friday returned to Ireland yesterday morning.
The holidaymakers were left without an aircraft at Larnaka airport after the Dublin-based travel company Fáilte Travel announced that it had ceased trading. Flights leaving Dublin were also cancelled. Up to 3,000 passengers had booked holidays with the company and were due to travel over the next few weeks.
The Commission for Aviation Regulation, which licences tour operators, made arrangements to fly holidaymakers home yesterday morning, and will also help arrange refunds for cancelled flights.
Meanwhile, some delays were experienced at Dublin airport at the weekend, but the disruption caused by the failure of a radar on Wednesday appeared generally to have abated.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said the radar operated at 80 per cent of capacity over the weekend, enabling flights to leave without delay for most of Saturday and Sunday. However, because of knock-on delays from congestion at peak times, arrivals were delayed by an average of 40 minutes, and departures by less than that. A spokeswoman from the IAA said she was aware of no cancellations over the weekend.
The airport's radar system broke down on Wednesday, causing chaos for thousands of passengers at one of the busiest times of the year. More than 200 flights were delayed, diverted or cancelled on Wednesday.
The cause of the problem has been identified as a piece of faulty hardware, which meant controllers were unable to see some labels attached to "blips" that signify individual aircraft. The IAA has said the same problem arose four times since early June.
However, the airport will not resume full capacity until a report on the incident has been received from the hardware supplier, Thales ATM, expected this week.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has said he will be seeking a full report from the IAA on last week's incident, and criticised the lack of information available to passengers.
On the prospect of introducing a back-up system for use in the event of future shutdowns, the Minister said: "The computer system is in place for five years and it cost €115 million. A back-up system would cost the same amount. It is one of the most sophisticated and state-of-the art systems."
