Approximately 16% of people who travelled from Ireland by air, over the last 4 months, faced flight disruption, new research from AirHelp – the world’s leading air passenger rights organisation – show.
That percentage roughly equates to nearly 760,000 people travelling between last November and February of this year.
Whilst most of the passengers faced delays under 3 hours, meaning they were not eligible for financial compensation, more than 62,000 people had the right to claim and receive financial compensation from their airline. What’s more, over 60,000 travellers had their trips cancelled altogether.
During the winter season, Dublin Airport was found to have the highest disruption rate of 17%, affecting over 647,000 passengers. Cork Airport and Kerry County Airport followed this with 16% and 15% of passengers respectively disrupted between November and February.
Dublin Airport to Abu Dhabi was the most disrupted route with over 49% of passengers facing delays or cancellations during this period. This is followed by routes from Ireland West Airport Knock to London Stansted with a disruption rate of 30%, and Cork Airport to London Stansted at 29%. The luckiest passengers, however, were those who travelled from Dublin Airport to Krakow in Poland and Dublin Airport to Dusseldorf International Airport, with 98% and 97% of passengers arriving at their respective destinations on time.
“AirHelp has one of the most reliable and accurate collections of flight data in the world. Our goal is to provide passengers with an in-depth look at how the travel industry is performing. The latest winter season has proven that Ireland has room for improvement in terms of flight disruptions and cancellations, in order to minimise the negative impact on passengers when they choose to travel,” said Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp.
According to Europe’s air passenger rights laws, travellers are entitled to compensation for delays of more than 3 hours, cancellation of their flight or denied boarding, all when the airline is at fault. Air passengers who have experienced interruptions have a period of 3 years to claim.
