Aer Lingus said it had received confirmation that international flights will not be affected by air traffic reductions caused by the US government shutdown.
“Aer Lingus is aware of reductions being implemented by the US department of transport to reduce scheduled air traffic by 10 per cent across 40 airports,” the airline said.
“It has been confirmed to Aer Lingus that international airlines are exempt from the reductions.
“To date, Aer Lingus operations have not experienced any significant delays related to US air traffic issues.”
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Speaking later, following the publication of the airline’s third-quarter results, Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton said customers would not be affected.
“We were watching quite carefully what was going on in the US with the shutdown,” she said. “We did see some news this week about potential reductions in the US.
“It’s now been confirmed it is not going to be hitting international traffic, so I think customers can look forward with confidence on that basis.”
There is likely to be mounting chaos at 40 US airports on Friday as airlines start cancelling flights due to a government shutdown that has impacted air traffic control operations.
As the first day of disruption dawned, as many as 700 flights have been cancelled by the four largest airlines in the US.
[ US government shutdown: standoff could lead to thousands of federal job lossesOpens in new window ]
The cancellations came in the wake of warnings from the US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that airlines would have to cut 10 per cent of their flights in to 40 major airports by the end of next week to take the pressure off a system straining as a result of air traffic controller shortages.
“With continued delays and unpredictable staffing shortages, which are driving fatigue, risk is further increasing, and the FAA is concerned with the system’s ability to maintain the current volume of operations,” the agency said in an emergency order released on Thursday night.
Airports on the list that are served by flights from Ireland include the three New York-area airports, Logan Airport in Boston and Los Angeles and Chicago airports.
US airlines have said the cancellations will mainly impact regional and domestic flights and the reductions do not – as yet – apply to international flights.
However, there are fears that if the shutdown drags on and there are higher levels of absenteeism among more than 13,000 air traffic controllers forced to work without pay, the upheaval could spread.
