Two one-way flights from London Heathrow to Dublin and Shannon were canceled today by Aer Lingus due to capacity reductions at Heathrow.
The airline said it is awaiting further instructions from Heathrow to understand the impact on its schedule in the coming weeks, RTE said.
In a statement, it said it will try to minimize disruption to customers.
Heathrow Airport has imposed a capacity limit of 100,000 daily departing passengers until September 11 due to a lack of resources.
Separately, industrial action at Bordeaux Airport and Lyon Airport has also resulted in the cancellation of two return flights tomorrow and one return flight on Saturday.
Aer Lingus has apologized to affected customers and said its teams are working to reopen affected customers as soon as possible.
The airline said there were plans to cope with increased travel demand following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, but a significant spike in cases in recent weeks has created “significant additional operational challenges”.
Operating up to 23 flights a day to and from Heathrow, Aer Lingus is one of the airport’s largest users.
Heathrow also acts as a major gateway for travelers arriving and departing Ireland to other destinations, including many long-haul flights.
In a statement, the airport’s director said the number of daily departing passengers is expected to reach 104,000 this summer, which would result in long queues and delays. As a result, they have limited the maximum number of departing passengers to 100,000.
“We are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to minimize the impact on passengers,” said John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow Chief Executive.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus told the Irish Examiner they are awaiting further instructions to understand the impact on the schedule.
“Due to the high volume of flights to London Heathrow, Aer Lingus will strive to minimize the disruption to customers caused by these mandatory flight cancellations. Affected customers will receive direct communications from Aer Lingus in the coming days.”
Heathrow’s move has been strongly criticized by former Aer Lingus and British Airways boss Willie Walsh, who now heads the body that represents global airlines.
“I’m surprised Heathrow hasn’t been able to get their case in order better than this. Airlines have predicted more traffic than Heathrow predicted… clearly they’re all wrong,” said the director-general of the International Air Transport Association. (IATA) told Reuters.
“Telling airlines to stop selling — what a ridiculous statement from an airport to an airline,” Walsh said.
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