Tui cancels flights and holidays to Greece

29 June 2020, 19:07

By Nick Hardinges

@NHardinges

Tui has cancelled a number of holidays to Greece after the country extended its ban on flights from the UK to 15 July.

The UK's biggest tour operator previously announced it would be taking Brits to eight popular destinations from 11 July, including Corfu, Crete, Kos and Rhodes following the coronavirus lockdown.

However, following reports the Greek government would be extending its ban on flights from the UK, the travel company has been forced into cancelling holidays and flights between 11 and 14 July.

Brits would have been free to travel from Tui's three biggest UK airports: Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham.

However, in an exchange between a customer and a Tui member of staff, the company confirmed some holidays would not be going "ahead as planned."

The customer, named Phoebe, wrote: "Greece have extended the travel ban to the UK does that mean holidays will be cancelled?"

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Another replied to Phoebe's tweet, saying: "We were supposed to be going on 14th and ours has been cancelled."

A spokeswoman for the travel firm replied: "Hi Phoebe, we’ve been reviewing things to ensure we can still operate safe and enjoyable holidays, but, unfortunately, some holidays can’t go ahead as planned.

"If your holiday is affected, we’ll be in touch to discuss your options."

Another spokeswoman for the company later confirmed the update to LBC News, adding that its holiday restart plans were always subject to government guidelines.

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She said: "In accordance with updated advice from the Greek Government, our planned flights to Greece between 11-14 July won’t go ahead.

"When we announced our plans to restart summer holidays, we always said they were subject to Government guidelines.

"We’ll continue to monitor these and update our holiday programme as needed."

Government hopeful British holidays can begin on July 4th

Flights to Greece will remain restricted even after it reopens its borders to international visitors on Wednesday, sources told the Athens News Agency.

The policy was agreed at a meeting of government officials chaired by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

He reportedly said: "The whole opening procedure is dynamic and the data will be continuously evaluated."

Flights from Sweden are also included in the extended ban.

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