Tui airline cancels flights to Rhodes as wildfires, evacuations continue

 

RHODES ISLAND – Given the forest fires raging on the Greek holiday island of Rhodes, the German airline and travel group Tui announced that it is canceling all flights to Rhodes up until and including Tuesday.

Given the forest fires raging on the Greek holiday island of Rhodes, the German airline and travel group Tui announced on Twitter on Sunday that it is canceling all flights to Rhodes up until and including Tuesday.

Tui’s flights from the island will continue as planned however, in order to get tourists back home safely, Tui Germany’s head of communications Aage Dünhaupt told dpa.

There were similar arrangements in place for the other countries in which Tui operates, he added.

The airline was also offering some German tourists the chance to cancel their flights free of charge: “Customers with arrivals on Wednesday, 26 July can rebook or amend free of charge. Please contact your original point of booking for further details.”

Forest fires that raged out of control on Saturday have caused around 19,000 tourists and residents to be evacuated from several villages and hotels in Rhodes.

The TUI Group, which offers holiday packages and owns hotels, cruise ships and planes around the world, is currently responsible for a total of about 39,000 guests in Rhodes, Dünhaupt said. Of these, 7,800 have been affected by the fire and evacuated.