Brittany Ferries to close two Portsmouth routes
Brittany Ferries has announced further cuts to its services after 65,000 passengers cancelled their reservations following the introduction by the UK government of further travel restrictions to Spain and France.
It will take Connemara out of service and close the Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Le Havre routes from 7 September. It has previously announced the closure of the Portsmouth to St Malo route from 7 September and its Poole to Cherbourg route will also remain closed for the rest of the year.
Brittany apologised to passengers and said it will try to accommodate them on alternative sailings.
The company’s busiest route Caen-Portsmouth remains unaffected for the next two months. Normandie and Mont St Michel will continue three daily departures as normal, with Armorique covering each ship’s technical stop in November and December respectively, running in freight-only mode.
The company added that it was seeing ‘significantly’ weakened demand for services this autumn.
Director general Christophe Mathieu said Brittany had hoped to ‘salvage’ 350,000 passengers from a summer season that would normally attract more than double that number, but in reality it is unlikely to reach 200,000.
"Passenger traffic accounts for around 75% of our income, so our bottom line has been hit hard. It’s is why we must continue to take decisive action to reduce our costs to get us through the worst of this unprecedented crisis," he added.
By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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