Flights have once again resumed at Galway Airport, but travel agents in the city are still working around the clock to assist hundreds of customers still stranded in countries around the world due to flight disruptions resulting from the Icelandic volcano cloud.
Aer Arann began operating many of its services from 1pm yesterday with the first flight leaving Galway Airport for Dublin at 2.25pm.
The Irish Aviation Authority had imposed airspace restrictions following the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano last Thursday, causing havoc to flight schedules across Ireland, the UK, and Europe.
The flight disruptions have been a major blow to travel agents in Galway fighting to keep up with the hundreds of calls flooding in from stranded customers.
Colm McDonagh, managing director of 1 Stop Travel in Eyre Square, told the Advertiser that “there has been tremendous difficulties for customers” and that “it hasn’t been too pleasant for travel agents either”.
“Business was flying along beautifully at the beginning of the year, much better than in the previous year, but this volcano has caused problems. It’s been a major blow to us. We’ve had a lot of customers stranded in places like China and Africa. I’m just off the phone with two people stuck in Cape Town who are trying to get back. They were due to fly home on Monday but unfortunately the first flight available to them is next Saturday week. At the moment we have 38 people stranded in different parts of the world and that’s a huge number for a local agent at this time of year. We would have had more only that people cancelled or postponed. There’s people stuck in Australia, Tenerife, and Lanzarote. There’s a school group stuck in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US. The office here has also had a lot of American and Canadians coming in who are trying to get home. We have been very busy dealing with people phoning our emergency line.”
Mr McDonagh said that during this whole crisis travel agents had really shown they were invaluable. “Travel agents have been taking a hammering the last few years because of the increase in internet bookings, but it has been the travel agents who have been there for people at this time, the internet wasn’t. They have to be recognised for that. They are a voice at the end of the phone line when you’re stuck,” he said.
According to Galway Airport spokesperson Michael Maloney seven departures were cancelled on Thursday, eight on Friday, and all flights were cancelled from Saturday right through to Tuesday. Welcoming the fact that Aer Arann resumed services from 1pm yesterday Mr Maloney warned that it would take a few days for airlines to organised and re-position their aircraft.
“The ash problem has resulted in aircraft ending up in airports that they normally wouldn’t be in. For major airlines like Air Lingus, it’s a major problem. It will take two to three days to re-position the aircraft and get the schedule back to normal. It’s a total mess in that respect. Aer Arann normally has three aircrafts based in Galway and they were re-positioning their aircraft this morning [Wednesday].”
Mr Maloney said that up to 100 flights in and out of Galway Airport were cancelled up until Tuesday.
It was not all doom and gloom as there seems to have been a “significant uplift” for some hoteliers, B&Bs, and self catering operators, according to Failte Ireland. Some hoteliers had seen overseas cancellations, but this had been compensatedby the extended stay of those stranded and by an increase in domestic tourism numbers.
