Aer Lingus slashes Summer schedule as Hormuz blockade bites
Irish commercial darling Aer Lingus has cancelled hundreds of flights from its summer schedule amid growing jet fuel fears stemming from the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz.
The airline is axing scheduled transatlantic, European, and local flights on various days over the coming weeks, according to the Irish Independent.
Services set to be affected include flights to and from Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St Paul, Toronto, Berlin, Zurich, Athens, Faro and Amsterdam. Flights to London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Edinburgh will also be cancelled, and passengers rebooked onto other services.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said the airline has “commenced operating its planned summer schedule”, and as a result, “a number of recent cancellations have been required due to mandatory maintenance on aircraft, along with a limited number of schedule adjustments”.
Aer Lingus said it will reschedule the majority of passengers on alternative same-day services where possible.
Thousands of flights have already been cancelled, including German airline Lufthansa cutting 20,000 European short-haul flights over the Summer, with more planned as airlines grappled with warning of fuel shortage.
Jet fuel prices had soared to $195 at the end of March, up nearly $100 from the end of February, when the war began, and as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues, airlines are issuing warnings that fuel could run out ahead of the busy Summer travel season.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, said Europe had only about six weeks of jet fuel supply on hand and warned of flight cancellations if supplies remain blocked.
New ID policy for Irish to UK
Aer Lingus cancellations came as its new ID requirement policy, matching Ryanair’s, came into effect.
The Irish airline now requires a valid passport or Irish passport card for all passengers on flights between Ireland and the UK.
Previously, because Ireland was in the common travel area, IDs like driving licenses were accepted. However, as with Ryanair, this has now changed.
The airline cancellations and policy requirements come at a time when the European Union rolled out its Entry/Exit System (EES), leading to severe delays and missed flights for British passengers.
The new EES obliges non-European Union nationals, including Britons, who enter the Schengen free travel zone to register biometric information, including facial scans and fingerprints.