Two flights, a Blue Islands service from Southend and a FlyBe flight from Heathrow, were diverted to Jersey on Sunday due to fog in Guernsey.
Dozens of passengers were left stranded, with some not reaching their accommodation until 2am on Monday morning, the JEP has learned.
A spokeswoman for Flybe apologised for the disruption but said the firm did ‘everything possible to assist and find passengers overnight accommodation given the lack of immediately available rooms’.
St Peter Centenier John Camara said two of his officers attended the Airport at about 10pm.
‘From what I understand, a plane was supposed to land in Guernsey but was diverted to Jersey. We were made aware a lot later and believe the passengers had been left for about seven or eight hours. Once our officers got down there they tried to ascertain what was going on and then started calling around different hotels looking for places for them to stay.
‘We got there eventually and everyone found somewhere to stay. We had to go and get a second car from the parish hall, so we had two police cars and we were taking people to their accommodation,’ the officer said.
‘My officers went on patrol at about 5pm and got to the Airport at 10pm – they were helping until about 2am. In the end everyone got somewhere.’
The diverted Blue Islands flight from Southend landed in Jersey at about 4pm. The Flybe Heathrow-to-Guernsey flight arrived in Jersey at about 7.10pm.
A Flybe spokeswoman said: ‘Flybe would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience experienced by those passengers travelling on the above flight between Heathrow and Guernsey on Sunday that, because of heavy fog, diverted to Jersey.
‘The safety of its passengers and crew remains its number-one priority at all times and, like every airline, Flybe has minimum acceptable weather conditions in which it can operate safely.
‘Flybe can confirm it complied with its duty of care under EU regulations and, given the limited resources over the busy bank holiday Sunday evening, did everything possible to assist and find passengers overnight accommodation given the lack of immediately available rooms, and to rebook them on alternative flights the next day so they could complete their travel.
‘The airline would like to take this opportunity to offer its thanks and appreciation to the honorary police who, given the limited transport options from the Airport as all taxis had left for the evening, offered to take passengers to their
hotels as and when accommodation had been sourced.’
A Blue Islands spokesperson said: ‘Fog at Guernsey Airport on Sunday 26 May saw Blue Islands London Southend–Guernsey flight divert to Jersey after holding over Guernsey.
‘With fog later showing signs of improvement in Guernsey, and to minimise disruption, passengers were boarded on a later flight to Guernsey (BE6445 at 8pm).
‘However, the fog levels did not lift sufficiently to allow the aircraft to land. Therefore, this flight subsequently returned to Jersey, at which point passengers were provided with accommodation and flown to Guernsey the following day on an additional service.
‘A busy bank holiday weekend in Jersey, coupled with other diverted passengers from a separate flight, regrettably exacerbated delays in sourcing accommodation and transfers. We apologise for the inconvenience our passengers experienced and would like to thank our ground-handling partners for their support.’
