More turbulence in store for passengers as airline industry grapples with disruptions

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The turbulence faced by airline passengers and industry is not going away any time soon (via IrishTimesBiz)

Travellers wait in long queues outside Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. Photograph: Robin van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/AFP via Getty ImagesAirlines cancelled about 60 flights in to or out of Dublin Airport over eight days from June 22nd to 29th, disrupting thousands of passengers planning to fly to or from the Republic. Irish carrier Aer Lingus was responsible for about half of the total due to a well-documented outbreak of Covid-19 among crews.

The airlines that commented did not say how many passengers suffered, but estimates are as high as 12,000. KLM blamed weather and a “shortage in hub staff” for the cancellation of Amsterdam flights on June 24th, 27th and 28th. Amsterdam Schiphol is one of several big European airports where bottlenecks have been forcing airlines to axe services.

Lufthansa gave no reasons for cancelling flights from Munich and Frankfurt last Friday and Monday. However, spokesman Boris Ogursky says air traffic control strikes and increased Covid absences have put additional strain on the system. The airline says the cuts will largely apply to domestic flights to and from its Toronto and Montreal hubs. They will not hit international services, although a spokesman indicated that Air Canada could change the times for some of these services to avoid peaks and “even out” passenger flows. However, he said the plans will not affect Dublin Airport.

An Irish source echoes this, explaining that a problem in one place can have a knock-on effect in another. A delay in an aircraft taking off from one place can result in it being late to leave that destination if it is flying on somewhere else. Normally, air travel networks can absorb this with little disruption, but, as the source points out, “the system is now stretched really tight”. Consequently, even everyday issues can cause major upsets.

Should they be called upon, unarmed soldiers will man entry points for fuel, cargo and other vehicles that regularly serve the airport, allowing up to 100 security staff who normally do this work to cover security lanes. Defence Force personnel will not deal with passengers.

 

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IrishTimes 'Turbulence ... airline' - we see what you did there. Do you think some colleagues in IrishTimes could look at the CSO numbers for Q4 2021 & the year as whole? There seems to have been an extraordinary number of unbelievably tragic early departures.

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