THE tragic Helios crash is the latest in a spate of problems that have beset tour operators in recent months, dashing for good the hopes travel agents had for a record-breaking summer of travel.
Since the crash in the Greek mountainside, many of those booked with Helios Airlines have refused to fly, instead demanding a full refund or a rescheduled flight with a different airline.
The cancellations have plagued travel agents because most Helios passengers book their flights through tour agencies instead of directly through Helios Airways.
The travel agencies have become a kind of buffer between the passengers and the airline company. On one side of the travel agents are the passengers, who are demanding refunds, and on the other side is Helios Airways, which claims that refunds are unwarranted since the government has inspected their aircraft and approved them for flights.
One hundred and eighty passengers have chosen to remain in Hania, the second largest town of Crete, instead of fly back on a Helios plane. Other passengers have chosen to strand themselves in popular summer destinations like the Bulgarian capital Sofia and the Greek island Kos rather than board a Helios flight.
Helios Airways is chartering planes from other airlines to fill in the gap that the crashed plane has left. They are not, however, cancelling the scheduled flights of their other aircraft.
“We are in a difficult period and we have had to bring in aircraft from abroad to fulfil the flights scheduled with the fateful plane,” said Nikos Anastassiades, the spokesman for Helios Airways. “We cannot be sure at this stage how that particular flight schedule will develop. But the flights of the rest of the aircraft will proceed as scheduled.”
On Wednesday the airline company announced that passengers who are booked to fly with Helios are “under no obligation to fly with them” but noted that they will not be refunded if they do not fly and they will have to make their own separate travel arrangements.
The President of the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents, Akis Kelepeshis, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that they were trying to schedule another flight with a different airline for customers refusing to fly home on Helios but noted that “these people must pay the new issue for their tickets” because the government has not grounded all Helios flights.
Although the bulk of the cancellations are with Helios flights, Kelepeshis confirmed that some cancellations have also been made with other airlines like Cyprus Airways and Aegean Airlines.
The Helios crash is only the latest setback that Cypriot travel agencies have faced this summer. But the summer had not opened badly: “When we started it was supposed to be the best summer in Cyprus”, Kelepeshis said. “All the people were travelling abroad and making reservations.”
The setbacks began in July: “We started with the strike in the airports the first week of July, then we had the bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh, then rumours of a terrorist attack in Italy, then an attack in Turkey, and now this [the Helios crash]… It was something unbelievable for us.”
Kelepeshis said this has been the worst summer for travel agencies that he can remember.
A DISASTROUS SUMMER
July 7 –Four terrorist bombings on London buses and the Underground kill 52 and wound 700.
July 8 – 200 drivers, porters, cleaners and baggage handlers strike after the government signs over operation of the Larnaca and Paphos airports to the private operator Hermes. The strike affected over 5,000 passengers who were left stranded at the airport.
July 16 – A bomb on the popular Turkish Aegean resort town of Kusadasi kills five and injures several others.
July 18 – Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, the same group that claimed responsibility for the London bomb attacks, threatens over the Internet to attack Italy.
July 21 – Four bombings are attempted in London only two weeks after the deadly July 7 blasts. None of the bombs explode.
July 23 – A string of bomb attacks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh kills 83 people and wounds hundreds. Eighty per cent of Cypriots cancel their flights to Egypt.
August 2 – Two small blasts in the Turkish Mediterranean town of Antalya kill six.
August 14 – A Boeing 737 owned by Helios Airways mysteriously crashes into the mountainside in Grammatiko, Greece, killing all 121 passengers and crew.
