This article is from page 6 of the 2014-01-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
AER Lingus passengers planning to fly from Shannon Airport to Boston have been forced to cancel or postpone their flights as the new schedule has been delayed yet again.
The New Year round transatlantic schedule was initially to begin yesterday (Monday), but the new flights have now been delayed until February 4, leaving customers high and dry.
The options being offered to disappointed passengers by the airline in clude changing travel to a later date or flying with Aer Lingus from Dublin to Boston, with ground transportation being provided between Shannon and Dublin.
Alternatively, customers may choose to cancel their travel plans, and receive a full refund.
The airline has attributed the delay to an “unforeseen scheduling delay” with the delivery of a new B757 aircraft.
At first the plan for the ShannonBoston flight was held up for one week with a new start date of January 26 announced.
That was postponed again yesterday by just over another week.
Last July the airline announced that it was to begin a year round daily schedule to Boston and New York, having cut back on the winter schedule in 2011 due to losses.
The new service to begin in February will use two Boeing 757 aircrafts, which will be smaller than the Airbus 330 aircraft currently in use. However the number of flights to Boston will increase to five times a week from next month and will reach seven days a week in March. During the summer months 12 flights a week will travel to the US from Shannon, compared to seven last year.