Passengers due to travel from New York to Shannon Airport on Saturday evening were left stranded in the U.S. for a second night after their flight was cancelled again.
It now appears that most of those on the grounded flight, will have to wait until Tuesday night before they will be flown back to Ireland where they would arrive on Wednesday morning.
Saturday night’s Aer Lingus EI-110 flight from New York’s JFK International Airport was cancelled at the last minute. The aircraft left the terminal and commenced its taxi before the crew returned to the departure gate.
The flight crew advised air traffic controllers that they had a ‘tech problem’ and needed to ‘return to stand.’ When asked by the controller whether they needed any assistance, the crew confirmed they did not and that the engineers wanted them to return.
The flight, due to arrive in Shannon at 5.40am on Sunday, was subsequently cancelled. As a result, Sunday’s EI-111 flight from Shannon to New York was also cancelled.
It’s now believed that a damaged cockpit windshield resulted in the Airbus A321neo jet being grounded in New York.
Sunday night’s EI-110 flight was also cancelled while Monday’s Shannon to New York service did not operate for a second consecutive day.
One passenger said: “We were sat on the tarmac for an hour before we were told there was technical issue and we had to go back to the hangar [sic]. Then after another 30 mins or so we were told there was a chip in the window of the cockpit and the plane had to be grounded.”
“The airport was chaotic when we were looking for information and only one lady working completely overwhelmed dealing with it all on her own. We were put in a hotel and told to wait for an email about an alternative flight,” the passenger added.
After being asked to leave their hotel rooms, passengers returned to the airport to see if there was any update.
“When we got to the airport we were told we should have stayed at the hotel and there’s no other option other than Tuesday. All Shannon and Dublin flights until then are full. So then we were put in a different hotel for last (Sunday) night and we don’t know yet if we can stay here again tonight,” the passenger said.
“It’s such a mess. We should have been home Sunday morning and back at work today (Monday). We’re now missing three extra days of work,” she added.
Aer Lingus has yet to respond to a request for information and comment.
