Iceland volcano ash - Thomas Cook rescue programme brings package holidaymakers back home
20-Apr-2010 With the latest news that airspace will remain open around Glasgow and Newcastle until midnight tonight, Tuesday 20th April, three Thomas Cook Airlines rescue flights have departed from Glasgow to pick up passengers from Cancun (Mexico) Heraklion (Crete) and Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) and one from Newcastle to pick up holidaymakers in Lanzarote.
Providing airspace remains open, these flights will all return tonight along with 10 other Thomas Cook Airlines flights from short and mid-haul destinations, repatriating around 2,500 passengers in total.
Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Group CEO for Thomas Cook Group plc, said, "As the UK airspace restrictions have now been lifted for a short time over Glasgow and Newcastle Airports, our teams overseas and in the UK are all hands on deck to get as many people back to the UK as possible during this small window.
"Elsewhere, we have been working around the clock with our network of global partners to find alternative means of getting our customers home, and keep customers in the UK informed of the latest developments."
Currently the travel company has more than 50,000 British holidaymakers stranded overseas, but has managed to bring around 2,500 people home so far.
The rescue programme continues, details as of 14:45 on Tuesday 20th April:
- In partnership with Celebrity Cruises, 1,000 Thomas Cook customers will be transported back to Southampton on the new Celebrity Eclipse which will depart from Bilbao, Spain arriving back in the UK on Friday 23rd April.
- Thomas Cook Airlines has been running a series of rescue flights for holidaymakers currently stranded in the long-haul destinations of Mexico, Dominican Republic and Cuba. These customers have been brought back into Portugal and Spain, so that when airspace fully re-opens it will be quicker and easier to bring them back into the UK. From there, these holidaymakers can also be brought back over land if such the delays continue.
- Arrangements also continue to bring those customers in short haul destinations back over land and yesterday 500 people were brought back from Italy and Spain via coach and ferry and a further 250 passengers will also come back via this mode of transport today. A dedicated team is accompanying customers for the return journey to ensure they have the necessary support and assistance.