Jet2 has grounded all flights to a Greek island from UK airports today.
The budget airline has urged passengers not to travel to the airport due to severe weather conditions on the Greek holiday paradise. The Hellenic National Meteorological Service issued warnings for “heavy thunderstorms” affecting the Sporades archipelago island.
As a result Jet2 cancelled today's flights to Skiathos today from various UK airports including Bristol, Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, London Stansted, Newcastle, and Manchester. It has plans to reschedule them.
"If you are travelling to Skiathos today, please do not travel to the airport. If you have already travelled to the airport, if possible, we would advise you to return home and come back to the airport 3 hours before your new departure time tomorrow," a statement from the airline read.
"If it is not possible to make your way home, please speak to a member of our friendly Red team at the airport who will be happy to help."
One in three Brits already planning a package holiday for this year, study findsFor those stuck at the airport unable to get home, Jet2 recommended seeking out their Red team for assistance. The airline is also contacting affected passengers in Skiathos who were scheduled to return today.
The Jet2 spokesperson added: "We apologise for this change that is unfortunately beyond our control, if you are due to travel to Skiathos today, we have sent all details of the change and your options to your email address on the booking. It is rare for our schedules to be disrupted like this and although this change is beyond our control, we understand it will disrupt your plans at last minute and have done everything that we can to ensure we operate as soon as possible and minimise the delay."
"We have a huge team working hard behind the scenes at our UK-based HQ that are monitoring the situation and on behalf of us all, we are sorry again for the inconvenience this delay brings."
The weather in Skiathos may be bad this weekend, but it was far worse in September last year. The island was hit with severe rainstorms and flooding that destroyed hundreds of homes. Rescuers worked full tilt to save people trapped in flooded houses after the storm turned roads into rivers and unleashed 7,000 lightning bolts over the island. Jet2 made the decision to cancel a number of homes at that point as well.
Flight-only passengers have been offered a free change onto the next available flight to the island or the option to cancel with a full refund. Package holiday customers wanting to change travel arrangements were advised to telephone the company.
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