GOVERNMENT REQUESTS HELP FOR STRANDED PASSENGERS AFTER AIRLINE COLLAPSE

Tenerife, Thursday December 17

TENERIFE'S government was working with with the tourism and aviation industries on Thursday after Wednesday's collapse of Scottish budget airline Globespan.

by James Tweedie

Cabildo tourist board Toursimo de Tenerife was liaising with Tenerife hoteliers association Ashotel, Spanish aviation authority AENA and the Provincial Association of Estate Agents (APAV) to ensure that affected passengers could complete their holidays before returning to the UK.

One Globespan flight from Tenerife's southern Reina Sofia airport was scheduled for Thurday December 17 and three more on Saturday December 19 to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen.

The tourist board was in urgent talks the island's hotels to ensure that passengers on those flights would be offered accommodation at special “contingency rates”, regardless of any agreements they may reach with Globespan.

Toursimo de Tenerife chief José Manuel Bermúdez said that other no-frills airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair had offered discounted return flights for the stranded holidaymakers.

He said: “we are confident that they will be all able to fly home in the next few days.”

Budget airlines have exerted pressure on governments to exempt them from regulations covering refunds for cancelled flights.

Globespan carried a total of 68,671 passengers to Tenerife since October, 1.5% of the total number of passengers arriving on the Island.

Mr Bermúdez added that he expected other airlines to fill the gap in the market, saying: “This is unexpected news but we believe that the number of seats, which amounts to around one per cent of the total airline capacity from the UK to the island, will be covered in the near future by other airlines operating to Tenerife.”

Some 4,500 travellers have been affected by the demise of Globespan, mainly in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt.

A customer helpline had been set up in Britain on +44 141 332 3233, while Globespan published a statement on its website www.flyglobespan.com.

AENA also activated a customer helpline to help stranded passengers find alternative accommodation on 922 759 027 or 922 759 028.

The tourist board also advised passengers to check the British Civil Aviation Authority’s website www.caa.co.uk.

Globespan was fined £5,000 pounds in August 2008 after it flew a faulty jet 3,000 miles across the Atlantic after it had been struck by lightning.

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