Irish flights on UK routes were experiencing considerable disruption today after a major operation at London's Heathrow airport apparently foiled a bomb plot.
Dublin Airport bore the brunt of travel chaos as around 40 flights were cancelled, meaning thousands of travellers had holidays disrupted.
The worst affected airlines were Ryanair and Aer Lingus and it is expected the knock-on effect of the massive security operation will be felt over the next two days. Cork and Shannon airports escaped with minimal disruption. Six flights were cancelled out of Cork while four services from Shannon were disrupted.
Aer Lingus said this afternoon it has resumed all flights to Heathrow from Dublin, Cork and Shannon and passengers should check-in as normal. The airline said delays were expected on all flights to all other UK destinations. It also warned of delays on flights scheduled for tomorrow.
A total of 94 Ryanair flights in and out of the UK and Ireland were cancelled today, the airline confirmed.
Hundreds of people in the packed terminal at Dublin Airport accused airport authorities of failing to pass on vital information about cancellations and delays.
But Siobhán Moore, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport Authority, insisted dozens of officials were liaising with stranded passengers and others waiting for flights to arrive.
"We have special dedicated corral areas. We have 35 customer care teams on the floor at any one time. We are giving out water to passengers," she said. "Where we have information we are giving it out. We are getting information from the airlines themselves because obviously it affects their flight schedules, so where we can give information we are doing that."
The Government said there was no increased security risk at Irish airports.
However, transatlantic airlines complied with strict US rules on hand luggage and all passengers were forced to hand over liquid, including drinks at check-in. Passengers were also denied the chance of some duty free shopping with alcohol, perfume, shampoo and hair gel also on the banned list. The restrictions only affected US-bound flights.
The disruption began in the early morning after hundreds of passengers had checked in for the first round of flights. Many were forced back inside the terminal building it was confirmed their flights had been delayed.
Aer Lingus services to provincial airports in the UK, including Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh, were operating but experienced long delays.
The airline has set up a helpline for passengers due to travel today and who wish to make alternative travel arrangements. They can contact staff on 0818 365044.
Ryanair said the first wave of flights out of London Stansted had been hit by three hour delays. The second wave of flights to and from from the airline's base airports at Stansted, Liverpool, Dublin, Luton, Glasgow Prestwick, Shannon, and East Midlands were all cancelled.
The first departures from other UK Airports are arriving on time but will suffer subsequent delays in turnaround, the carrier said. There are also one hour delays to services from Liverpool, Luton, Glasgow Prestwick and East Midlands, but flights across mainland Europe remain largely unaffected.
Ryanair also warned that given the backlog of passengers at UK airports further delays and cancellation are inevitable. Passengers can rebook flights online free of charge.