EasyJet is the latest airline to cancel all its flights in and out of Spain as the country adopts emergency measures to fight the coronavirus contagion.
In an announcement on the company website the carrier said:
“Spanish authorities have implemented strict travel restrictions for flights to, from and within Spain from Monday 16 March. As a result, we will be operating our normal schedule on Sunday 15 and Monday 16 March to try and allow as many people as possible to return home. However, flights from 17 March until 29 March will be cancelled and only a number of rescue flights will operate.”
Earlier on Saturday Jet2 announced that all flights to Spain would also be cancelled as the country went into lockdown. A number of flights that were in transit at the time were turned around by the airline and told to return to their points of departure.
On its website a short statement said: “In line with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) travel advice and decisions made by local authorities overseas, we’ve reduced our flights programme.”
“We’re cancelling all flights to Mainland Spain (Alicante, Barcelona, Murcia and Malaga) for at least the next seven days. Our flights from Mainland Spain to the UK are running as scheduled until 21 March 2020 (inclusive).”
Meanwhile, Ryanair Group Airlines (including Buzz and Lauda), has been forced to severely reduce flights to/from Spain, the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands from 24:00 Sun 15 Mar until 24:00 Thurs 19 Mar. The company says that it is contacting all affected customers by email to advise them of their options and they urge customers not to call.
British Airways has also cancelled flights from Gatwick to Italy, France and Albania. From London City, there are cancelled flights to and from Germany and Italy.
The FCO updated its Travel Advice on Sunday morning to advise against all but essential travel to Spain, following the restrictions put in place by the Spanish government in response to the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19).
For more information visit (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain).
The British Ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott, recorded a video message for UK nationals explaining the implications of the state of emergency for both residents and tourists. He also thanked the Spanish authorities saying: “A big thank you to the Spanish authorities, in particular the healthcare professionals, for all the great work they are doing to help keep everyone in Spain – of all nationalities – safe, in circumstances that are very challenging indeed.” You can view the video at www.facebook.com/britsinspain.
For more information on coronavirus, please follow the advice of the Spanish government (https://www.mscbs.gob.es/) and UK government (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus).
