TUI cancels summer flights from Aberdeen

A travel company has cancelled its summer flights from Aberdeen.

TUI said the decision was “incredibly difficult” as it axed trips to Rhodes and Spain, as well as other overseas destinations.

The operator confirmed its focus is on flying from airports in the United Kingdom to destinations where air bridges are in effect.

However, it plans to resume flights from Aberdeen International Airport in October.

A TUI statement said: “In light of the unprecedented halt on worldwide travel, our teams have been busy reviewing and planning for travel post-Covid-19.

“We’re taking a dynamic approach to restarting our holidays, in line with Government advice and the evolving demand for travel, focussing first on flying from our largest UK airports to destinations where we believe air bridge agreements will be in place.

“We’ve therefore had to make the incredibly difficult decision to cancel our summer flying programme from Aberdeen in 2020.

“However, we plan to resume flights from Aberdeen from October 4 to ensure they are available in time for the half-term holidays.

“Throughout winter we’ll be running twice-weekly flights from Aberdeen to Tenerife and we will, of course, be welcoming Aberdeen back to our summer holiday programme in 2021, offering a fuller range of TUI destinations.

“We know how much our customers value flying from our regional airports, so we thank them for their patience during this extraordinary time, and we can’t wait to be taking them away again from Aberdeen from October.”

On Wednesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon approved quarantine-free travel from more than 50 overseas destinations.

However, she said the Scottish Government could not do so “in good conscience” for Spain.

She added that was down to the “significantly higher prevalence” of Covid-19 there. It means those returning from Spain are still expected to self-isolate for 14 days.

The decision saw Jet2 cancel flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports to mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands until July 25.