Jersey hotels were called on at short notice to find beds for passengers stranded by the UK air traffic control meltdown, despite accommodation across the Island already being “extremely” busy.
The Jersey Hospitality Association has praised hotels and other accommodation providers for stepping in after widespread flight cancellations left travellers unexpectedly needing somewhere to spend the night.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled across the UK on Tuesday after a major failure at air traffic control provider NATS, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded and aircraft and crews out of position.
Jersey was among the airports affected, with eight Loganair services linking the Island with East Midlands, Southampton and Bristol cancelled, alongside an easyJet flight to Luton.
At the time of writing, three departures this morning were also cancelled: BA’s 7:05 and 10.35 Heathrow-bound flights, and an easyJet flight to Luton at 16:35.
The Jersey Hospitality Association said hotel occupancy was already “extremely high” at this time of year, but that its members had responded at “incredibly short notice” to find spare rooms for those unable to leave the Island.
“A huge thank you to all of our accommodation sub-sector members who responded so quickly last night to help ensure that passengers affected by the disruption to UK air traffic control had somewhere comfortable to stay,” the association said.
“Sometimes all it takes is an email, a few WhatsApp messages, members willing to help, and a dedicated team at Ports of Jersey working together to turn a difficult situation into a warm Jersey welcome.”
Sometimes all it takes is an email, a few WhatsApp messages, members willing to help…
jersey hospitality association
The association said everyone who needed a bed for the night had been looked after, and thanked accommodation providers, their teams and Ports of Jersey for responding to the disruption.
It added that it hoped the Island’s “unexpected overnight visitors” had at least been able to “enjoy a little Jersey hospitality along the way”.
NATS said on Tuesday evening that the system problem had been resolved and it was operating normally, but warned that clearing the backlog would take time.
Both Jersey and Guernsey Airport faced disruption.
Yesterday evening, a Ports of Jersey spokesperson said: “UK air traffic control is currently experiencing issues which is impacting flights across the UK including services between Jersey and UK. Passengers are advised to check the latest flight information directly with their airline.”
Airports across the UK have also warned of continuing knock-on disruption today as airlines work to reposition aircraft and crews.
