Aer Lingus canceled some European flights as Covid curbs continued to disrupt travelers’ plans.

Total bans on some travelers and demands that passengers submit negative test results to enter many countries hit Christmas vacation plans this year.

Aer Lingus confirmed that five European tours were canceled, four on Monday December 27th and one on Tuesday December 28th after available resources were questioned.

The flights hit on Monday were from Dublin to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Munich and Paris return. The airline canceled a return flight from Dublin to Paris on Tuesday.

The airline said it is offering its customers same-day alternatives to canceled flights to minimize disruption.

“Aer Lingus is communicating directly with affected customers to inform them of their options, including alternative travel arrangements,” it said in a statement.

“Like other airlines and industries around the world, Aer Lingus continues to monitor and respond to this changing situation,” the airline added.

Christmas flights

Meanwhile, figures show that the government’s Covid restrictions haven’t reduced the number of Christmas flights in the republic, but fewer people than expected may have traveled this year.

EU figures show that the republic held 1,000 flights this year between Christmas Eve and St. Stephen’s Day, according to the pattern before the holidays.

According to the air traffic control authority Eurocontrol, 551 aircraft flew in and out of the state on December 26, while 449 landed and took off on Christmas Eve.

St. Stephen’s Day total was 73 percent of 749 flights in and out of the state on the same day in 2019, the year before the pandemic disrupted global air travel.

The number of flights on Christmas Eve was 57 percent of the 790 flights reached on the same day in 2019, Eurocontrol figures show.

Air traffic in the republic has remained around 30 percent below the level of 2019 in the last few weeks.

European flights on St. Stephen’s Day accounted for 85 percent of the total on the same day in 2019.

The figures show that on St. 20,131 aircraft took off and landed Europe this year, compared to nearly 25,600 on the same day in 2019.

Initial soundings suggest that the number of people who failed to show up for their flights at Christmas was higher than usual.

Test problems

Aer Lingus and Ryanair Both said advance bookings for Christmas were good in the weeks leading up to Covid’s Omicron tribe.

Given the more transferable burdens and difficulty in performing tests required for flights to many jurisdictions, caution is believed to be some of the factors behind the no-shows.

Both Irish airlines continue to waive the fees normally charged to passengers for rebooking, although the airlines may charge the difference in fare.

Days before Christmas, Ryanair announced that it would fly between nine million and 9½ million passengers in December.

The airline had originally forecast a passenger number of 10 to 11 million.

Ryanair did not comment on the Christmas passenger trends on Monday. The airline is expected to release passenger numbers for December early next week.

Additional Irish restrictions imposed this month require arriving passengers to have negative test results.

Vaccinated travelers must show negative antigen test results up to 48 hours prior to arrival.

Those who are not vaccinated must show negative results from PCR tests up to 72 hours prior to arrival.

Flights in the USA are also affected by Covid. At least 2,400 flights in the United States were canceled on Monday as the Omicron variant continued to thin out flight crews.