Holiday package airline Jet2 has cancelled all flights and holidays that are due to depart to Rhodes today as the island battles devastating wildfires.
The company announced it will still fly the planned aircrafts out, with no passengers on board, so that it can bring customers back to the UK.
Holidaymakers have been baffled to see numerous flights packed with Brits were still scheduled to depart for the fire-ravaged island.
Jet2 said in a statement: “We have cancelled all flights and holidays that are due to depart to Rhodes today (five flights in total). We will be contacting affected customers to update them, and to let them know that they will be provided with a full refund and the opportunity to rebook.
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“We will fly those five aircraft to Rhodes with no customers onboard so that we can bring customers back to the UK on their scheduled flight.”
The news comes as the total number of people evacuated or redirected due to the fires has reached 19,000, the Greek government has confirmed. Of the 19,000, 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea.
“It has been the largest evacuation ever [In Greece] in a fire with coordinated mobilisation of all resources,” a spokesperson told Sky News.
The Greek government said in its statement: The operations are taking place now at Kyotari and southwest to Gennadi. On evacuations, locals and visitors have been redirected to hotels, conference centres, schools and other public spaces and are being catered for (food, water, medical observation).
“In coordination with the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) today a hotspot at Rhodes airport will be set up so that visitors who have lost their travel documents during an evacuation can travel back home.”
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