Blue Islands pulls its direct flights to Corsica
BLUE Islands has pulled its direct service from Guernsey to Corsica this summer, as Covid cases there rise.
The airline was offering a couple of services from the Channel Islands to the French island.
But the situation in Corsica has been deteriorating and now only tickets for the Jersey flight are for sale on the website.
A Blue Islands spokesman said the re-categorisation of Corsica by the Guernsey government meant that Blue Islands was unable to operate the planned summer service.
‘Our direct flights to Corsica and Ibiza from Jersey are unaffected,’ he said.
‘We know that flying direct to select European destinations is favoured by many Channel Islanders with most flights to Ibiza [from Jersey] now sold out and we will continue to explore opportunities to bring new and exciting connectivity to the islands. The environment in which we are operating is evolving daily and requires continual reaction – we would like to thank customers who supported our Corsica activity from Guernsey, we have offered those affected an option to fly via Jersey to Corsica or Ibiza.’
France’s cases overall have risen from 40 cases per 100,000 people in 14 days to 60 cases per 100,000.
This places it in category three – meaning arrivals have to quarantine for at least a week, regardless of vaccination status.
Corsica cases had been lower until recently.
But over the period of a week, cases have risen from 10 cases per 100,000 people to more than 50 cases per 100,000.
This has put it on the category two watchlist and likely to head into category three shortly.
Aurigny has also confirmed it will not be offering a summer getaway service to Europe in the immediate future.
The airline had sent out a survey in late June to gauge interest in a limited series of Sunday services throughout August from Guernsey to Palma, Majorca.
But since then, case numbers have risen in the islands to more than 300 cases per 100,000.
An Aurigny spokeswoman said there had been a very positive response to the survey, but they felt it was not the right time for the services.
‘But we note that residents would welcome such services in the future,’ she said.
‘We will look at something when travel is more stable.’
The islands have recently been dropped from the UK’s green list and on to the amber list.
The UK has some of the highest rates in Europe currently, with more than 600 cases per 100,000 in England and nearly 700 cases per 100,000 in Scotland.
