AN AER Lingus flight had to be grounded in the US and 300 passengers put up in hotels after the jet was involved in a bird-strike incident shortly before landing.
Aer Lingus secured a replacement aircraft from Omni Air International and the stranded passengers were due to continue their journey to Dublin overnight and expected to arrive late this morning.
Flight EI-125 was en route from Dublin to Chicago O’Hare International Airport at the time of the incident on Sunday. There were 300 passengers and a crew of 10 on board.
While on approach to Chicago, the Airbus A330-300 series jet experienced a bird-strike.
One of the jet’s two engines was affected by the incident. The crew did not declare an emergency and landed the jet safely. The aircraft was, however, grounded until engineers could carry out a thorough inspection of the affected engine.
As a result, the return flight had to be cancelled and the passengers accommodated in local hotels overnight.
Aer Lingus secured a replacement aircraft from Omni Air International and the stranded passengers were due to continue their journey to Dublin overnight and expected to arrive late this morning.
Yesterday’s scheduled EI-125 service to Chicago operated as usual with a different aircraft and was expected to return as EI-124 and due to arrive in Dublin early today.
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman confirmed: “A full inspection of the engine was required by engineering staff, resulting in the cancellation of flight EI-124 from Chicago to Dublin on Sunday.”
“All 300 passengers were accommodated in hotels overnight. Those passengers will be re-accommodated today, Monday 1st October, on flight EI 2124, operated by an Omni hire-in aircraft, scheduled to depart Chicago at 23:00 Chicago time,” the airline said.