Aer Lingus members working through toughest summer season
by Niall Shanahan
 
"Cabin crew are experienced and dedicated professionals and continue to do amazing work that helps to sustain Aer Lingus’s good reputation" - Fórsa's Eugene Gargan
"Cabin crew are experienced and dedicated professionals and continue to do amazing work that helps to sustain Aer Lingus’s good reputation" - Fórsa's Eugene Gargan

Fórsa has said its its members in cabin crew, pilot and administrative roles working at Aer Lingus are currently working through one of the toughest summer seasons in decades. The airline has had to cancel numerous flights to and from Dublin Airport in recent weeks as a spike of Covid-19 infections among crews continued to affect its operations.

 

Eugene Gargan, former Fórsa vice president and now assistant general secretary, said the aviation industry globally is experiencing enormous challenges as the demand for air travel has surged in the wake of pandemic restrictions.

 

“The pendulum has swung from the darkest days of the pandemic, when our members were on reduced hours and working for a fraction of their salaries, to a situation defined by very heavy demand, alongside capacity challenges in airports across Europe, which is especially noticeable in Dublin and the London hub airports.

 

“While working through one of the toughest summer seasons in living memory, crews have now been hit with a highly infectious strain of Covid, which has had an adverse effect on staff capacities, and this has contributed, at least in part, to the flight cancellations in the last two weeks,” he said.

 

Eugene added that in the day-to-day experience of cabin crew staff, dealing with understandably stressed passengers is one of the current challenges: “Passengers can arrive on board and bring their frustrations of the airport queues and delays with them, which you can understand.

 

“But cabin crew are expected to deal with that, get them on board quickly, and often while having to deal with other operational issues.

 

“I think it’s important that passengers and Aer Lingus senior management are mindful of these day-today challenges. Cabin crew are experienced and dedicated professionals and continue to do amazing work that helps to sustain the airline’s good reputation,” he said.

 

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