Approximately 25% of Irish air passengers suffered flight disruption between April and June, new research from travel tech and passenger compensation firm AirHelp shows.
That equates to around 2.4 million passengers seeing some sort of disruption; be it delays or cancellations.
The Aer Lingus pilot pay dispute does not act as a simple explanation, either, as that work-to-rule action only started in late June and affected flights in July on a greater scale.
Whilst most Irish passengers faced delays under 3 hours, meaning they were not eligible for financial compensation, over 136,000 people had the right to claim and receive financial compensation from their airline. In addition, over 95,000 people had their trips cancelled altogether, an increase of more than double compared to recordings from January to March.
Dublin Airport was revealed to have the highest disruption rate of 24%, affecting over one million passengers between April and June. Kerry County Airport follows with a disruption rate of 21%.
Meanwhile, the most punctual airport during this period was Cork Airport, with 17% of passengers disrupted.
When looking at the most disrupted routes from Irish airports, with more than 20,000 passengers, Dublin Airport to Abu Dhabi International ranked the highest with over 43% of flights disrupted between April and June.
Dublin Airport also takes the second, third and fourth spots on the rankings, with 37% of passengers facing delays or cancellations on its routes to Alicante and North Carolina, and 34% of passengers to Zurich.
On the other hand, the most fortunate passengers were those who travelled from Shannon Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport, with over 94% of the flights taking place between April and June departing on time. Cork Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and Dublin Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport also scored high punctuality rates of 92% and 90% respectively.
“Leveraging one of the world’s most reliable and accurate collections of flight data, AirHelp provides holidaymakers and business travellers with a comprehensive overview of airline and airport performance. We are facing rising strike action and disruption levels globally, which not only highlights the industry’s areas for improvement but also the importance of passengers knowing their rights,” said Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp.
