February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The New Year holiday weekend chaos was all due to a gust of wind that blew across the tarmac at Dublin airport on Saturday.
The gust, believed to have been over 80 miles per hour, pushed the nose of an Airbus A330 into the wing of another.
One of the Airbus planes was supposed to be in Shannon at the time of its close encounter. But the plane had been delayed at Dublin because of an industrial action by some Aer Lingus staff in Shannon. This had forced the closure by Aer Lingus of two check-in desks at the County Clare airport on what was one of the busiest flying weekends of the year.
Damage sustained by both aircraft resulted in cancellations out of both Dublin and Shannon airports and the loss of return-flight services out of New York, Boston and Chicago.
Six flights to the U.S. were scrubbed by Aer Lingus on Saturday and Sunday, and a seventh was cancelled on Monday. Frustrated passengers had to be put up in hotels in Dublin and the Shannon area.
Aer Lingus, meanwhile, leased four aircraft, including a Boeing 747, and began flying out 1,300 stranded passengers on Monday.
Brian Murphy, North American spokesman for Aer Lingus, said that the airline expected trans-Atlantic services to return to normal by Tuesday evening.
One of the damaged airbus aircraft was back in service, while the other was still being repaired, Murphy said.
“We brought in extra staff over the weekend and managed to keep [phone] calling time at a minimum,” Murphy said. “We believe the customers got accurate information if not the answers they wanted.”
However, New York-bound passenger Brian Aherne said that he had heard that trans-Atlantic flights out of Shannon had been canceled only as he was traveling to meet his flight on Sunday.
Aherne said he learned in a cell phone call from a relative that reports on radio and television had stated that all flights across the Atlantic had been stopped.
“We had earlier called Aer Lingus and an automatic answer told us that the flight was leaving as scheduled,” Aherne said. “When we got to the airport they were already giving out hotel reservations.”
Aherne and about a hundred fellow passengers were accommodated overnight at the nearby Clare Inn.
He said that he was happy enough with the accommodation, which included a free dinner and breakfast.
Initial uncertainty as to when a flight might leave Shannon was cleared up by about 5 p.m. on Sunday evening when the passengers were told that a plane would be available for the flight to New York on Monday morning.
Aherne and the others flew to Kennedy without incident on Monday aboard a Boeing 747 leased by Aer Lingus.
“It could have been worse,” Aherne said.
The kissing jets incident came just days after a far more potentially dangerous occurrence at Dublin airport in which jet fuel from a Los Angeles-bound Aer Lingus Airbus spilled onto the tarmac.
Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority are both investigating the spillage of 45,000 liters of fuel on St. Stephen’s Day, Dec. 26.
According to a report in the Irish Independent, witnesses said the Airbus suddenly lurched away from its blocks, causing the refueling hose to shear off and spill the fuel, known as Jet A-1 fuel, onto the tarmac.
No passengers were on board the plane when the fuel hose was pulled from its connection in the aircraft wing.
Meanwhile, one of the same plane’s engines also came into contact with a mobile staircase.
It was unclear whether or not wind was responsible for both incidents.
After the spillage the area was sealed off. The fuel was quickly cleaned up and the plane fully inspected before it departed for Los Angeles a little over an hour behind schedule.