Greece-based charter carrier Viking Hellas has shut down the flyviking.com site through which seats from Gatwick were sold as it moves toward withdrawing from the UK.
The carrier will re-brand as Fly Hellas from May 1, operating from Greece and Cyprus. Seats continue to be sold through English-language site flyviking.gr.
A note on the flyviking.com homepage states: “Please be advised that flyviking.com is no longer booking seats for Viking Hellas.
Passengers who have a future booking this summer with Viking Hellas that was booked on flyviking.com please note your booking is secure and we will be contacting you to reconfirm your details.”
Viking Hellas announced on February 1 that it would close its Gatwick base by the end of this month and re-brand as Fly Hellas as a mark of separation from former sister carrier, Viking Airlines AB, based in Sweden.
Viking Airlines entered bankruptcy protection in Sweden at the end of last year.In a statement earlier this month, Viking Hellas said: “All flying has been covered using alternative European Union carriers, both for the remainder of the winter programme and for summer 2011, keeping to the original schedules.”
It added: “Only a small percentage of the company’s total capacity will be sold in the UK.”
No one from the company was available to comment. However, Travel Weekly understands no more than a few hundred passengers from the UK are affected by the change of carrier and most had been contacted by the end of last week.