Irish holidaymakers face weeks of potential travel woes and canceled summer flights due to staff absenteeism Covid-19 and labor shortages.
It’s because Aer Lingus canceled more than 60 flights in the past week.
Yesterday, 25 flights scheduled to depart Friday and Saturday and arrive at Dublin Airport were grounded, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
Among them, industrial action at Lyon airport has resulted in the cancellation of two flights returning to the airport today.
Flights to and from Gatwick and Amsterdam have already been cancelled.
It comes as numbers show that people between the ages of 25 and 54 have been hardest hit by the summer wave, although the actual level of infection is unknown.
The positivity rate for people with HSE PCR tests rose to more than 40 percent yesterday, the highest in months and the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 rose to 812, with 32 in intensive care.
UCD virologist Professor Gerald Barry said Covid-19 vaccines should not age. “Open them up,” he urged, to allow people who want a second booster shot but are currently barred from getting the top-up shot.
It comes amid growing concerns that a spike in Covid cases will impact transport services across the country as the peak summer break gets into full swing.
While major carriers including Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail say disruption has been minimized so far, they are all well aware of rising Covid levels among workers.
The National Transport Authority of Ireland (NTA) said all public transport operators are currently facing a growing challenge in recruiting and retaining staff, with some services having to be canceled at short notice due to Covid and other illnesses.
Bus Éireann said it had seen an increase in Covid-19 cases among its staff in the past three weeks and several services had to be cancelled.
A spokesperson for the bus network said more than 98 percent of services nationwide are currently running as scheduled.
Irish Rail currently has 38 workers off due to Covid-19, which it claims is less than 1 pc of its total workforce, and is not impacting service provision at the moment.
Dublin Bus has a staff absenteeism rate of around 2 percent with about 50 drivers currently off work due to Covid-19, a transport union representative said.
Earlier this week, the NTA said it was unable to provide more services for concerts in Dublin’s Marlay Park due to a lack of staff.
“In general, services are quieter during the summer months as schools and colleges are closed,” an NTA spokesperson said.
“The Authority welcomes the extra passengers from the various events that take place during the summer, but in many cases does not have the capacity to offer additional services for those events, especially if they affect the operation of regularly scheduled services.”
National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) general secretary Dermot O’Leary said that although carriers have a staff shortage of only 1 to 2 percent, it “would have an impact”. “I understand there are various surgeries involving staff with Covid-related illnesses, whether they are with Covid itself or isolating them, and when I say surgeries I mean the main drivers, in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.
“What I’m hearing anecdotally is that up to 50 drivers on Dublin Bus are gone and up to 30 or 40 on Bus Éireann, which of course will have an impact in itself.”
Chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland Adrian Cummins said the hospitality industry is again very concerned about Covid-19 as restaurateurs have seen an increase in staff shortages over the past three weeks.
“We are currently seeing an increase in the workforce that is on the road with Covid. I assume since we’re seeing airline cancellations, especially with Aer Lingus, so if that company sees Covid, we’re going to see it across the country and in every industry,” he said. “In the hospitality industry, we’re seeing it right now. “Our difficulty is that when a chef is out with Covid, the whole thing is under pressure.”