A NUMBER of Aer Lingus flights due to depart and fly into Dublin Airport yesterday were cancelled.
The airline had previously said that several cancelled flights had been due to a spike in Covid-19 cases among staff.
Yesterday's cancellations including flights destined for Dusseldorf and London. Other flights grounded included those inbound to Dublin Airport from Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, and London.
Additionally, return flights to Amsterdam and Oslo were also cancelled by Royal Dutch Airlines.
The cancellations came as the Republic's Defence Forces were to be on standby at Dublin Airport from yesterday in case of security staff shortages.
Niall Phillips, an aviation sector organiser with SIPTU, which represents security staff, said: "The contingency plan is specifically Covid related and will be triggered in the event of a spike in infections among airport security officers and where the related absenteeism exceeds 20 per cent of scheduled staff.
"In the event of the contingency plan being activated, all vehicle control posts (VCP) officers would be deployed into the terminals to support the screening of passengers and to ensure that travel disruption is kept to a minimum," he said.
"At no time will our members in VCP be asked, or required, to work alongside Defence Force members or to train them.
"The DAA has put in place alternative arrangements for the training of Defence Force personnel which do not involve our members".
He added: "The contingency plan will be in place for a limited period, from 6th July until 15th, August, 2022.
"Following activation and completion of the contingency plan, our members will revert to normal operations and will immediately revert to their allocated roster in VCP," he said.
