Some passengers could be stranded until next month

SOME airline passengers stranded abroad may not be able to return to Ireland until the middle of next month because of the massive backlog in available flights.

The Irish Examiner understands that a small number of people on long-haul journeys to Asia, Australia and north America have been given next available flight dates which are still a fortnight away.

Aer Lingus, which operates long-haul flights to north America, has put on a fleet of extra flights.

However, due to the hangover from the worst week the airline industry has faced since the September 11, 2001, attacks, other passengers have been less fortunate.

In one case, a man who had travelled to Melbourne in Australia has been told the next available flight he can re-book is May 14.

As a result the individual, from Co Cork, will be stranded on the other side of globe until the middle of next month unless he pays for new tickets with alternative airlines which are not refundable.

The situation emerged as airports across Europe said they were operating at close to 100% capacity for the first time since the Eyjafjallajokull volcano ash cloud descended on Europe.

Pan-European group Eurocontrol made the claim as it confirmed that 75% of the 28,000 scheduled flights on Wednesday departed and landed without any concerns.

Aer Lingus is currently running all flights from Ireland to Britain, north America and continental Europe as normal, while Ryanair, which resumed flights to the continent at 5am yesterday, was due to re-start its schedule to Britain from 5am this morning.

The week-long airline crisis is estimated to have cost the industry €200 million.

However, the vast majority of flights were back in the air yesterday, with 29 departures, 29 arrivals and one re-positioning flight going through Cork Airport – catering for 4,500 passengers in total and just five flights below the average working day.

The Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning, chaired by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, said the ash cloud will not be near Ireland for the next four to five days and that volcanic activity in Iceland is “continuing to diminish”.

It has also recommended enforcement bodies should publish guidelines on what they consider to be “reasonable” expense costs airlines should pay people stranded abroad.

Meanwhile, Dublin Port Company has revealed the past seven days have been the busiest in recent Irish ferry history, with three times more passengers than normal.

Over the course of the ash cloud crisis, 72,118 people flocked to and from Dublin port, the largest in the country, to avail of services to Britain, France and other parts of continental Europe, with nearly 5,000 using the Cork to Swansea ferry route alone during the same period.