A British grandmother was among hundreds of passengers whose planes had to make U-turns in the sky after Spain went into coronavirus lockdown.
Beryl Carrick, , was bound for Benidorm but had to turn around mid-air just minutes from her destination after Jet2 cancelled all flights to the country yesterday.
Mrs Carrick, from Driffield, East Yorks, was flying from Leeds with her family to celebrate husband Arthur’s 409 th birthday.
She said: “We were nearly at the airport in Spain when an announcement came on. They told us the Spanish are stopping people going in because of coronavirus and our flight was turning around to go home.
“We were all quite surprised and it was rather bizarre to be so close to our destination only to come home again. ”
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A A Jet2 flight from Leeds Bradford to Alicante was among those turned around
A total of five flights from the UK were diverted after Jet2 announced it was stopping all travel to mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
Planes from Birmingham to Malaga, Glasgow to Alicante and Leeds to Alicante all turned back over France.
Ray Handy and his family, meanwhile, have now booked a last-minute trip to Dubai after their Jet2 flight from Birmingham to Tenerife was also cancelled.
The – year-old, a civil engineer from Warwickshire, was traveling with wife Amanda and daughters Carla, and Stacey, He said: “As soon as we got to the airport, people were saying Jet2 had cancelled all flights to Spain and some that had taken off were heading back. ”
The family originally booked their week-long break to Tenerife last year but had to cancel when provider Thomas Cook went bust.
They were refunded and then re-booked the same holiday with On The Beach, but have conceded that the holiday was perhaps ‘not to be’.
Mr Handy said: “It just felt like it was the holiday that was not to be – but we were determined to find a way. ”
Anne Thomas, , was flying back to her home in Spain after spending the past few days looking after her dementia-sufferer mum in West Yorkshire. The expat said: “I’ve barely slept Because I’m been looking after my poorly mum and after almost getting home to Spain I’ve been turned around. It’s a very frustrating and quite stressful situation. I have been told Jet2 flights are still going and picking holidaymakers up to come back here, so I don’t understand why I can’t be dropped off. I just wish they could get me back home. ” Health chiefs in Spain confirmed cases soared by a third overnight to 5, 2008. So far, the virus has killed (people there. There were 3, 11 new diagnoses in capital Madrid alone as authorities stopped testing people with only mild symptoms there. Under new rules – released after a – day state of emergency was declared – people will only be allowed to leave home under certain conditions. Yesterday, TUI said no flights will be running to Spain between today and Monday, while Jet2 said all flights to the country will be off for at least a week. The strict travel measures in Spain echo those in Italy – where , have tested positive for the virus and 1, have died. The World Travel and Tourism Council says up to 62 million jobs could be lost due to the pandemic, while UK Hospitality boss Kate Nicholls has asked the Government “to permit temporary staff redundancies where demand falls substantiall y – with Worldwide, dozens of airlines have cancelled flights and UK unions have warned a swathe of airlines are preparing to announce job cuts. EasyJet and Ryanair also cancelled hundreds of flights, while Virgin Atlantic said some of its jets are “almost empty”. 
(Image: Roland Leon / Sunday Mirror) Universal Credit covering wage costs ”.
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