Ferries in April

[sugardens]

I know the answer to this is buried in this site somewhere but I can't find it! And I know that there is someone out there who'll have a pretty good idea of how often the ferries run during April (usually). Need to know so can book flights.

[Kojak]

Depends when you are going, Su. I assume you'll be flying to Rhodes and then taking a ferry to Symi. Greek Easter is the 24th April in 2011 so ferries will be pretty full around that date as many Greeks return to their home island.

[sugardens]

We've got a window of opportunity between 9th and 31st approx and hopefully will fly to Rhodes from Bristol of Gatwick but no info available about flights at the moment - unless you know where I can look. Easyjet only give info until end of Oct.

[Andy W]

It's really too early for anyone to have their finalised flight programmes on sale. Some operators will show timetables on their websites, but the Air Traffic Control and airport slots are still being negotiated, so if you book, the times may well change before you travel. This said, EasyJet have put the Rhodes flights ex Liverpool on sale for summer 2011, so Gatwick can't be far behind. The only other airlines you can be certain will operate to Rhodes from the UK are Thomson, Thomas Cook, Jet2 and Monarch, and maybe not all of these will use as many regional airports as they did this year, though Jet2 will definitely expand their services. Viking will need to work out agreements with the smaller independent package operators if they are going to get enough business to be worth operating - Kiss Flights handled that for them until they collapsed.
As for ferries, well this year there was at least one ferry every day in April, and on some days as many as six. As Kojak says, the dates of Greek Easter are crucial, there are far more Greek passengers in April than there are tourists, so the timetables will reflect their needs, and with the poor economic conditions in Greece the timetables are likely to be a bit sparser that they were this year. The chances of finding out what the timetables for April will actually be before late March are at vanishing point, most shipping lines haven't even decided which ships they will use next year yet, let alone what times they will sail.

[sugardens]

We've got a window of opportunity between 9th and 31st approx and hopefully will fly to Rhodes from Bristol of Gatwick but no info available about flights at the moment - unless you know where I can look. Easyjet only give info until end of Oct.

[Kojak]

Andy is correct about smaller airports feeling the pinch re flights. Friends flying from Newcastle this September found that Olympic holidays, using Jet2.com did not have any flights in October and enquiries have shown the same for next year. I'd say the airlines are reacting to the economic situation by removing flights at the beginning and end of the season.