Storm Daniel Cancels Flights to Greek Island of Skiathos
A number of flights of European airlines to Skiathos have been cancelled, rescheduled or delayed due to the extreme weather conditions and floods caused by Storm Daniel that have been affecting the island since the beginning of the week.
Tour operators TUI and Jet2, which handle the largest volume of passengers on Skiathos, have announced cancellations and reschedules. The companies have been sending repatriation flights to the island to fly travelers back to the UK.
Jet2 and Jet2holidays
Jet2 and Jet2holidays on Wednesday announced the cancellation of all flights and holidays that are due to depart to Skiathos up to and including Tuesday, September 12.
“As well as providing certainty for our customers, we believe that this is the right thing to do in terms of allowing the island and its population to quickly return to normal following this week’s extreme events,” a company announcement said. Jet2 said it would be flying its scheduled program of aircraft to Skiathos with no customers onboard and return back to the UK with customers. If needed, additional aircraft will be added.
The tour operator said that it would be contacting all affected customers with regards to refund and rebooking options.
The announcement came in addition to the flight cancellations to Skiathos that Jet2 already made this week (six flights operating between Monday and Wednesday.
TUI
Earlier this week, TUI UK cancelled six UK flights to Skiathos, offering the affected passengers free holiday amends with a 10 percent rebooking incentive or a full refund if they no longer wished to travel.
For those currently in Skiathos who were due to travel back home on September 5 and 6, the company said that it was working to get them safely back home to the UK and would contact them directly with new flight details once they are confirmed.
In addition, TUI urged travelers intending to travel to Skiathos from September 8 onwards to closely monitor the company’s announcement board for any possible changes to its flight itinerary and offered rebooking and rescheduling options.
Air Serbia
Air Serbia postponed its September 5 charter flights between Belgrade and Skiathos due to the extremely bad weather conditions on that Greek island and the closure of the Skiathos Airport.
Furthermore, and in agreement with travel agencies, the airline cancelled its Wednesday charter flight JU9140 from Belgrade to Skiathos and organized an evacuation flight for passengers who were already on Skiathos.
It is noted that the island’s airport is now open and operational.
Ryanair
Ryanair also issued an announcement that its passengers to Greece could face potential delays to and from Greece between September 4-7 due to the bad weather conditions affecting the country.
“Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling to/from Greece between Mon 4 – Thur 7 Sep should check their Ryanair app for flight updates before travelling to the airport,” the airline said in its announcement.
Many tourists stranded at Skiathos airport earlier this week took to social media platforms to complain about “being locked in the airport for 12 hours” or posted videos with the extreme weather conditions affecting the airport and the island’s town center.