England lockdown leads to rush in bookings

Monday 02 November 2020

Extra flights home could be arranged in the next few days due to an "urgency" to return to Guernsey following news of England's impending national lockdown.

States-owned airline Aurigny has seen a spike in bookings from returning travellers and concerned parents of university students who want to get their children home before England goes into lockdown on Thursday.

Commercial Director Malcolm Coupar said that scheduled flights have been selling out since the UK Prime Minister's announcement at the weekend, leading to an "urgency" for people to return home or reach their intended destination ahead of the festive period. 

“Given the uncertainty in the UK at this time we have seen a number of flights prior to Thursday fill up," he said. "We have also had many concerned parents call our customer services team asking about flights to get their children home from university.”

Pictured: The States launched Operation 'Jingle Bells' last week in order to get university students home for Christmas, however, it is yet to be seen what effect England's lockdown, which is currently scheduled to last until 2 December, will have on that. 

Aurigny is "continuing to monitor demand" and may add more space or put on further flights if demand continues to surge. 

“We want to help our customers as much as possible and have upgraded flights on Wednesday to our jet to add extra capacity," Mr Coupar said of the action already taken.