Also distributed in Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EDITION 586
FRIDAY 13th OCTOBER TO THURSDAY 26th OCTOBER 2017 MOVIES AT ...
EATING OUT & ABOUT
PAGES PA 25 - 27
Your dining experience aroundd our o restaurants
FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT NT
property
MONARCH COLLAPSE HAS HUGE IMPACT IN THE CANARIES
PAGES 41 -48
guide
Fire breaks saved Gran Canaria from more damage
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RAN Canaria is to expand a pioneering new scheme in the Canaries for fire protection.
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RITISH holidaymakers have voiced their disappointment after the shock collapse of Monarch airlines had extensive repercussions in the Canaries. A massive repatriation exercise by the Civil Aviation Authority comes to a close on October 15th after thousands were affected whilst still in the archipelago. The CAA put on alternative flights up until that date and for most of the journeys, there was little change to the original bookings. In the minority of cases, however, flights were put back a couple of hours and different destination airports used, such as Gatwick for a number of the Birmingham returns. Some 12,000 tourists have been affected in Tenerife, with 6,000 being repatriated during the first week after Monarch’s announcement and another 6,000 in the second week which ends on October 15th. After that, there will be no alternative arrangements for the cancelled Monarch flights. In total, there were 110,000 Monarch passengers abroad
when the collapse happened. Holidaymakers in Tenerife said that whilst they understood the situation, it was still very unsettling for them to not know about their return flights until 48 hours before. Others said they had cancelled their future flights as they didn’t know how long it would take to get their money back, if at all. The closure of the company’s airline and holiday division from October 2nd affected the airports of Tenerife south, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The airline also had a direct connection with Fuerteventura. Tenerife’s tourism chiefs immediately set up a crisis cabinet to manage the situation and minimise the impact and inconvenience to tourists. The situation with stranded passengers was described as “under control” though the main problem is for people who have bought tickets to fly in the coming
months and their worries about if they will get their money back or not. Administrators KPMG estimating that just ten to 15 per cent of customers have bookings protected by Atol. Many will be forced to seek refunds from their credit or debit card supplier or through travel insurance. Flights booked directly with Monarch after December 15th, 2016, are not ATOL protected; before that date, they were. Monarch was the fourth
airline in the UK market in Tenerife with a market share of 13 per cent, with 30,000 passengers a month. Tourism officials here say they are quietly confident that other airlines will step in and fill the gap left by Monarch. However,it has already been noted that airlines showing low prices for flights to Tenerife in the coming months have put up their fares. Monarch has a help line on monarch.caa.co.uk
Tragic death in Masca
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57-year-old Norwegian hiker died after suffering a fall from several metres in the Masca barranco.
The accident happened in the early afternoon and led to a full-scale rescue involving numerous emergency services and the rescue helicopter. The woman fell from a height of about seven metres but her injuries were so severe that she could not be saved.
The move follows the horrendous forest blaze which claimed the life of one resident and destroyed 2,700 hectares. The island’s Cabildo has revealed that the flames were so ferocious that they travelled at four hectares per minute and could have eaten up four times as much countryside. There were three main factors which prevented this: the magnificent firefighting operation, rain on the northern slope and fire breaks which had already been created. The latter meant that many rural properties were left untouched, even though land around them were incinerated. The fire broke out on September 22nd but was only finally declared fully out on October 23rd because of the lasting ashes which could have flared up again. Fire walls had been created in some areas last winter and
the Cabildo now intends to increase these. Gran Canaria has already become a pioneer in this technique and has attracted the attention of the specialist media. Work on the project actually started 15 years ago, creating divided between barrancos and around other important sites. “These strips have no visual impact, do not carry as much maintenance as conventional firewalls, and their discharge of vegetation causes the fire to just rise from the ground,” a Cabildo spokesman explained. The authority has approved emergency aid of 500,000 euros to mitigate the most pressing damages caused by the fire that has affected the summit. Investigations into the cause are continuing but it is virtually certain it was caused by human hand.