Aer Lingus has been forced to postpone its new Dublin-to-Montreal route from this summer to next because its new A321LR neo planes that were to fly the route have been delayed by Airbus. Flights had been scheduled for August 8.
In addition to calling off the Montreal route, the airline is being forced to reduce frequency on routes to Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Hartford from Dublin and to New York JFK from Shannon.
Under EU regulations, passengers holding tickets on the canceled flights are eligible for rebooking or sizable compensation, although the canceled flights are far enough away that the number of passengers affected may be small. It’s not clear whether Aer Lingus will be able to recover compensation it has to pay from Airbus.
Four of the new and fuel-efficient single-aisle planes were to be delivered. Aer Lingus says it still expects the first two to be delivered by late in the summer and the other two by the end of the year.
The flight changes had to be made, the company said, because “there is no equivalent aircraft to the A321LR neo in the market at the moment, leasing in an aircraft on a short-term basis was not deemed suitable.”
Aer Lingus, bought by BA parent International Airlines Group in 2015, has been expanding its trans-Atlantic services over the past few years, but will now have to be patient for a while.
