Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways provide crucial updates about Rhodes bookings

As wildfires continue to burn in Rhodes and other Greek islands, three of the UK's airlines are continuing to fly their customers to those destinations.

The Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu have particularly been left devastated by the ferocious forest fires, leading to the "largest-ever" wildfire evacuation in the country's history. The government has claimed that at least 19,000 people have been evacuated amidst the chaotic wildfires.

Since the threat of more dangerous and catastrophic outbreaks of forest fires remains, airlines are divided about whether to continue flying to and from those islands that are greatly dependent on tourists.

Which airlines are still flying to Rhodes?

While Jet2 and TUI have extended their outbound groundings, two popular budget airlines, Ryanair and easyJet, along with British Airways, have decided to keep their flights to the Greek island going this week. Notably, airlines including easyJet and Jet2 have also been running repatriation flights to help evacuate Britain travellers on the island.

On their official website, easyJet has confirmed that as they are closely monitoring the situation in Greece, they are "currently operating as normal to Rhodes. We advise customers travelling to and from Rhodes to check the status of their flights on Flight Tracker."

easyJet

EasyJet's tour operator, easyJet Holidays, is currently working towards helping each and every customer by fulfilling their requests.

The London-based budget carrier has promised its customers that they would receive a full refund after the company cancelled their holiday packages departing up to and including July 25 (Tuesday).

"We are proactively contacting easyJet holidays customers due to travel up to and including July 29 (Saturday) to confirm their options.

"Any easyJet flight only customers who are booked to travel to or from Rhodes until 29 July can transfer for free to another date or can request a flight voucher for the value of their unused flights, by calling easyJet Customer Services. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet's highest priority," easyJet wrote on their website.

Ryanair

Meanwhile, Ryanair is running all flights to two affected Greek islands, Rhodes and Corfu.

"Ryanair flights to/from Rhodes and Corfu are currently operating as normal and unaffected by the forest fires," the company has said in a statement.

"Passengers departing from Rhodes should be advised that we will accept temporary travel documentation issued by the Greek Police.

"The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also set up a helpdesk at Rhodes airport to assist visitors who have lost their travel documents. Please check your Ryanair app where you will be notified of any changes to your Ryanair flight," the Irish carrier added.

British Airways

Meanwhile, the customers of British Airways, who were meant to fly this week to Rhodes, can choose to travel at a later date if they want to, and customers who want to return to the UK early can change their booking free of charge.

Considering the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not issued a travel ban for Rhodes, if an airline is still operating their service or a travel firm has not cancelled their package holiday, then a traveller may struggle to get their money back if they choose not to go.

UK Foreign Office's travel advisory

The UK Foreign Office has updated its guidance, asking people travelling to areas that might be affected to make sure they had "appropriate insurance".

"If you are due to travel to an area that might be affected by wildfires, contact your travel operator or accommodation provider before you travel to check that it is not currently impacted. Make sure you have appropriate insurance," read FCDO's release.

Since wildfires are "highly dangerous and unpredictable" and the situation can change quickly, the FCDO has urged travellers heading to Greece to follow "112 Greece" on Twitter for official updates.