New airline swoops to rescue islanders' Tenerife trips

Wednesday 06 February 2019

Islanders' trips to Tenerife have been rescued after a new airline stepped in at the last minute to provide the flights after the previous provider went bust.

CI Travel Group was left to search for a new airline to operate their 'FlyDirect' programme after Germania abruptly suspended all flying operations and filed for insolvency yesterday.

The first departure from Jersey had been due to take off this Saturday, with flights continuing into April.

This morning, however, the travel group's Managing Director, Robert Mackenzie, said that Smartwings would be taking on the route using a Boeing 737 aircraft - but would have to fly instead on Mondays.

Pictured: CI Travel Group said that, due to the limitations of flying to and from Jersey Airport, the route would have to be operated on Mondays.

He explained: "Having received the news of Germania’s insolvency yesterday, we have been working to find the best possible solution for our clients. Given that the first departure was planned for this Saturday, the options available to us were extremely limited and coupled with the fact that only certain types of aircraft are able to operate the Jersey to Tenerife flight we were regrettably unable to secure an aircraft to operate at the weekend.

Our priority is to be able to provide certainty to our clients and to do so as quickly as possible. By committing to a new flight on Mondays, we hope that the vast majority of those that have booked will be in a position to transfer their booking. We will be contacting all of our clients as soon as possible to advise them of the change to their flight arrangements."

The new flight schedule will now operate each Monday from 11 February through to 29 April, departing Jersey at 13:50 and leaving Tenerife at 09:00.