The 2.45pm easyJet flight from London Luton to Rhodes was only a quarter full on Monday – unusually quiet for the busy school summer holiday period, and a reflection of how many travellers have been deterred by the wildfires that have ravaged the south of the island.
The conflagration, after a period of extreme heat, has led to thousands of holidaymakers being forced to evacuate their hotels. Nearly 1,500 holidaymakers are understood to have flown home on Monday alone, while others were relocated by travel firms or paid for new rooms elsewhere. Some have slept on mattresses in evacuation centres set up in schools, or stayed with local families.
About half the easyJet flight were members of a wedding party, including Kirsty Galvin, 32, and Robert Heasman, 38, from Bedford. “It was like a private jet,” said Galvin.
The couple were feeling relieved, after their original flights at 8am on Monday morning had been cancelled at midnight the night before.
“We were obviously devastated – we’ve spent thousands of pounds, we’ve had everything engraved with the dates,” Galvin added. “We had half our guests who arrived last week so we knew they were already out here waiting for us. If we had to reschedule people just wouldn’t have been able to afford to come. It’s been a nightmare.”
The couple searched alternative travel routes, including flying to Kos, another Greek island, or Marmaris in Turkey and getting the ferry. But after Galvin’s mother spent seven hours on the phone, flights were secured for Galvin, Heasman and 29 guests. The airline also offered to protect the bookings of their other guests who are arriving later.
Heasman said he had been unable to sleep all night, and had been worried after watching YouTube videos of the evacuation efforts, though the couple had been assured by their wedding planner that their venue in Rhodes town would be fine, as it is on the opposite end of the island from where the fires are.
“We’ve discussed feeling quite guilty about taking up potential hotel rooms for evacuees but it’s not just a holiday, there’s 54 of us,” added Galvin, noting that the party were planning to donate the rebate they received from easyJet for their delayed flight to the Rhodes firefighters fund.
“It’s a wedding – I do like to think it’s exceptional. I nearly cried when I landed here, I just thought I couldn’t believe I got here.”
The airline easyJet has said it is doing “all it can” to support customers in Rhodes, and has given those travelling to the island until Saturday the opportunity to change the date for nothing. Some other travel operators, including Thomas Cook, Tui and Jet2, have made similar offers, while others, such as Ryanair, are not offering refunds or free changes or cancellations.
About 10,000 Britons are estimated to be holidaying on the island. Some areas of the island are unaffected by the fires: in the north, where Rhodes town and the popular destination of Faliraki are located, the summer tourist rush is in full swing.
The Foreign Office has so far not advised against travel to Rhodes, which would enable holidaymakers with insurance to claim on insurance for their cancelled trip. Downing Street defended the decision on grounds the fires are only affecting a limited area in Rhodes.
At the airport in Rhodes, there were no longer signs of severe disruption, though conference chairs had been spread out to provide extra seating options. A group of Czech students had passed the evening playing cards waiting for their 1am flight to Prague after they were evacuated from the hotels they were working in as part of a summer work experience programme.
Anna Beduarova, 18, said that she had left her hotel near Gennadi on Sunday after becoming “very scared”, as she watched the flames rapidly drawing closer to her hotel when she was expected to continue working. She and a friend found a spot in another hotel, where they said 5,000 people were staying, including those sleeping on the floor. She and her friend shared a chair to sleep on.
Her friend, Adam Valek, had spent the night on the floor in a gym. He said that over the course of lunch, he had watched the fire go from being distant in the hills to flames approaching the outskirts of his hotel.
