Jet2 cancels flights to Spanish islands after ‘contradictory’ advice
Budget carrier Jet2 has now cancelled its flights to the Balearic and Canary Islands after the Foreign Office updated its advice to warn against any non-essential travel to the destinations.
Until 10 August, the carrier will not operate flights to Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Menorca, Majorca and Ibiza.
Yesterday the package holiday group took the decision to suspend all flights to mainland Spain until August 16 due to the imposition of mandatory quarantine measures by the government.
The carrier called on the government to provide clearer messaging regarding the situation in Spain, where there has been a recent spike in coronavirus cases.
“What we need now is clarity and consistency from the government,” the airline said in a statement.
“We understand that this is a fast-moving situation, however the information we are receiving is contradictory and often comes with little or no notice.”
Jet2 said that it would be in touch with passengers with options for rebooking or receiving a full refund.
Fellow low-cost fliers Ryanair and Easyjet yesterday said that they would not reduce their programme of flights to the Iberian nation.
The government’s decision to extend the travel warnings to the offshore islands has met with heavy criticism from the UK’s aviation and tourism sectors, as well as Spanish officials.
Many have questioned why ministers have not followed Germany in committing to targeted travel restrictions on the regions of Spain which have seen the most worrying rise in cases.
Earlier today Germany’s foreign ministry warned people not to travel to Catalonia, Aragon and Navarre, where the surge of cases is most prominent.
Aviation body Airlines UK said the government should work with the sector to consider a more targeted, regional approach where quarantine could apply only to affected regions of a country”.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that ministers had made the mistake of using Spain’s overall infection rate instead of local data.
According to figures from yesterday, figures show that Spain has 35.1 cases per 100,000 compared to 14.7 in the UK.
Madrid is working on convincing the UK that it had the outbreaks under control, its foreign minister said.