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An airline has apologised for weather-related disruption that saw a flight from Jersey to London land more than five hours late... in Paris.
Storm Isha, which brought gusts of wind above 100 miles per hour at its peak, may have affected the UK mainland more directly than Jersey and Guernsey, but nevertheless travel to the islands was seriously affected.
Passengers on easyJet flight 886 were due to leave Jersey at 7.35pm on Sunday, eventually setting off for Gatwick around four hours late but then being unable to land, with a lack of alternative destinations in the south of England necessitating the switch to Paris.
Around 130 passengers were on board, some of whom were unable to pass immigration at Charles de Gaulle Airport because they didn't have passports, while others faced a frustrating search for hotels before eventually flying back to Gatwick at lunchtime yesterday.
Pictured: Passengers were left at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We did all possible to minimise the impact of the weather for our customers, providing hotel accommodation and meals where available and we advised any customers who arranged their own that they would be reimbursed.
“Customers not carrying a passport were required by the French authorities to remain in the airport and so we worked with the airport to make them as comfortable as possible.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused as a result of the weather.”
There was also disruption for passengers on other airlines, with British Airways cancelling flights from Heathrow to Jersey after 4pm on Sunday, leaving two squads of junior rugby players from Jersey RFC having to spend an unscheduled night on the mainland before returning home yesterday.
Ferry services were also affected, with the disruption stretching into today as the tenth named storm of the winter, Jocelyn, arrived hard on the heels of Isha.
Tonight's Commodore Clipper service to Guernsey and Portsmouth, due to leave St Helier at 7pm, has been rescheduled and is now due to leave at 9.15pm.
INFO | COMMODORE CLIPPER service amendment Tuesday 23rd January 2024. Please see https://t.co/c1l4MiWP8n for the latest update.
— CF Sailing Updates (@CF_Travel_News) January 23, 2024
Winds of up to force 6 and spells of rain are forecast for today, with a maximum temperature of 12°C, with Jersey Met predicting that the blowy, showery but mild conditions will continue until late on Thursday prior to a spell of drier weather from Friday onwards.
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