Airlines try to accommodate stranded passengers

EASYJET yesterday announced that it would allow its passengers who have had their flights disrupted due to the bad weather in Europe, to transfer their return flights free of charge to any airport served by the airline, in an effort to enable more people to get to their destination in time for Christmas.

The no-frills budget airline flies to 129 airports in 30 countries. According to the easyJet announcement, the move will give new options for those passengers whose flights were unfortunately cancelled due to the adverse weather over the weekend.

EasyJet is planning to operate around 1,000 flights a day during the festive period – providing over 150,000 seats for passengers.

As a result of the crisis caused by the weather, easyJet recruited 180 additional contact centre staff to keep up with the high volume of contacts. Over 60,000 emails and over 36,000 texts have been sent in the last week to passengers, while 36,000 stranded people were provided with hotel accommodation from December 17 to 20.

The airline is also offering free transfers and refunds online to passengers. The new policy began yesterday and will remain in force until January 3.

Passengers taking up this option will have to organise the rest of their trip to their final destination.

Also yesterday, Cyprus Airways (CY) said it had managed to bring home all passengers who were stranded, mainly in British airports, due to the bad weather.

CY spokesman Kyriakos Kyriakou said four extraordinary flights took off from British airports, one of which from Manchester carrying students stranded in Birmingham. Another three flights departed from Luton, an airport not normally used by CY, and also Stansted.

Airport operator Hermes press spokesman Adamos Aspris said yesterday some long delays had occurred at the two Cypriot airports, especially with flights to and from airports which are continuing to face difficulties such as Heathrow and Gatwick.

Hundreds of Cypriots, mainly students, were stranded in airports abroad because of bad weather.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.