Aer Lingus is to place a new A330 aircraft, which was only delivered last week, in a storage programme in Spain due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Irish media outlet RTE.
Chief technical officer Fergus Wilson told staff in a video message that with travel restrictions and the 14-day quarantine still applying, passenger demand remains extremely low.
"The additional capacity that we added to our European schedule at the start of July has failed to perform to the level we had hoped - and with bookings for the coming weeks not showing an improvement, the remainder of this summer period now looks bleak," Wilson said.
The CTO said passenger numbers on the carrier’s three daily transatlantic services has fallen from 4,200 per day this time last year to just 150.
The new A330 will join two other Aer Lingus A330s in a long-term storage programme in Spain.
Aer Lingus’ wide-bodied fleet has fallen from 15 aircraft to just five operational aircraft servicing just two routes - Dublin - JFK and Dublin - Chicago.