Operation 'Jingle Bells' is underway!

Thursday 29 October 2020

Additional flights from a variety of UK airports will be offered this December to support university students who want to return to Guernsey for Christmas.

They will be given priority booking on the flights, which went live this morning and will be available exclusively to students for seven days.

"A significant amount of work has been undertaken by staff in Education, the wider States of Guernsey including Public Health, and Aurigny to ensure our off-island students have access to flight options from a variety of regional airports," said ESC President, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen. "Students remain resident in the Bailiwick while studying off-island and it was important that we did everything we reasonably could to enable them to come home for Christmas.

"Any student coming come will of course have to follow all self-isolation requirements. Whilst we don't know what those legal requirements will be in December, we have made it clear that they must ensure they are aware of the latest rules before they travel."

Pictured: Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen.

The operation is open to non-university students as well, such as those in boarding schools or on specialist provision

All students who receive States-funding have received an email confirming details of the extra flights, along with the 150 students who completed the recent survey about the demand for flights. The email contains a promotional code that will allow them to access the flights before they become publicly available in the next seven days.

Any student who has not received the code can contact studentfinance@gov.gg if they would like it.

The States have also provided a letter for students to pass on to their university, explaining the differences in how the Bailiwick is managing the pandemic. This follows feedback from some students who were concerned that their institutions would be reluctant to facilitate an early finish to support their travel home.

The Guernsey Institute is offering library services, study spaces and pastoral support to students once they have completed their self-isolation requirements. Those who are keen to access this should email theguernseyinstitute@gov.gg.

The flights have been scheduled to accommodate for the possible need to isolate for 14 days, should that be the requirement at the time that they travel.

Aurigny's additional flights take off between 1 and 6 December, with return flights between 3 and 10 January. They will operate from six regional airports in England: Manchester, Gatwick, Southampton, Exeter, East Midlands and Bristol.

The flights will become available to the public on Thursday, 5 November.