Storm hits U.K. & Ireland, 1,000+ flights disrupted, Air Canada activates flexible ticketing

Red weather warnings are causing travel disruptions in Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom as rare hurricane-forced wind gusts of up to 150km/h hit the region early Friday (Jan. 24).

The storm, named Éowyn, brought heavy rain and wind this morning in southwestern parts of the U.K., according to the Met Office.

Along with destructive winds, the storm will bring snow to Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but will transition back to rain, forecasters have reported. 

Ireland was hit with wind gusts of 114 ph (183 kph), the strongest since World War II, the Associated Press reports.

A half a million to a million properties or businesses are expected to be without power after the storm, reports say.

After Éowyn whips through on Friday and early Saturday, additional storms are expected to arrive in northwest Europe, bringing more wet and windy weather on Sunday and into next week, according to the Met Office.

Travel disrupted

On Friday, about 20 per cent of all flights scheduled to operate to or from airports in the UK or Ireland have been cancelled, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

A total of 1,070 flights have been cancelled, with Dublin, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Glasgow airports being the worst affected.

Several rail services and ferries have been cancelled too. Train operator ScotRail suspended all services across Scotland on Friday, saying it “would not be safe to operate passenger services,” while Calmac and Western Ferries services also cancelled because of weather conditions.

Other rail services affected by Éowyn include Avanti West Coast, LNER, West Midlands Railway, Lumo, Transport for Wales and South Western Railway.

Recognizing strong winds and rain, Air Canada activated a flexible ticketing policy for its Friday, January 24th flights to Dublin (DUB) and London (LHR) airports.

For clients on an affected flight, they can retrieve their booking to change their flight free of charge. Click here for more info.

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