Tens of thousands of holiday-makers face travel disruption this summer with Aer Lingus set to cancel or reschedule about 2 per cent of its flights as it carries out what it describes as \u201cmandatory maintenance\u201d on aircraft.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of flights will be affected on the airline\u2019s summer schedule against the backdrop of a significant jet fuel shortage due to the war in the Gulf. <\/p>\n
However, the airline said the \u201cvast majority\u201d of its customers will be \u201cre-accommodated on same day services\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAer Lingus has commenced operating its planned summer schedule,\u201d it said on Sunday. \u201cA number of recent cancellations have been required due to mandatory maintenance on aircraft, along with a limited number of schedule adjustments. <\/p>\n
\u201cSchedule changes apply to approximately 2 per cent of Aer Lingus\u2019 overall schedule. Where schedule adjustments are being made, the vast majority of customers are being re-accommodated on same day services.\u201d<\/p>\n
The airline declined to comment on exactly how many flights and which routes would be affected.<\/p>\n
Willie Walsh, the Irishman who leads air travel\u2019s main industry body, has said holidaymakers face possible flight cancellations from the end of May if the current squeeze on jet fuel supplies continues.<\/p>\n
Walsh predicted the cancellations on Friday as reports said that Iran had declared the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil and gas shipping lane, open to commercial vessels while its ceasefire with the US lasts.<\/p>\n
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Europe has around six weeks of jet fuel left as a result of the conflict in the Middle East and the continued blockade of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
European travellers could see \u201csome cancellations for lack of jet fuel\u201d by the end of May, International Air Travel Association chief executive Walsh warned on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IEA\u2019s assessment of potential jet fuel shortages is sobering,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He noted that Asian airlines were already cancelling flights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlong with doing everything possible to secure alternative supply lines, it\u2019s important that authorities have well-communicated and well-co-ordinated plans in place in case rationing becomes necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Walsh said this should include \u201cslot relief\u201d, an arrangement that would ensure airlines forced to cancel flights due to fuel shortages would not lose their take-off and landing slots at airports.<\/p>\n
IEA chief executive Fatih Birol confirmed that Asian carriers were on the front line, but warned that Europe and the Americas would begin to suffer if the conflict continued to limit supplies.<\/p>\n
Ryanair said this week that its suppliers could guarantee it enough jet fuel until sometime next month.<\/p>\n
The Irish airline, Europe\u2019s biggest carrier, added that fuel could be in short supply after that if shipping does not resume in Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the war in Iran finishes soon, then supply will not be disrupted,\u201d said Ryanair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of holiday-makers face travel disruption this summer with Aer Lingus set to cancel or reschedule…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[601,72,61,60,1899,143319],"class_list":{"0":"post-406768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-aer-lingus","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-ryanair","13":"tag-willie-walsh"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}