Airlines and travel agents have urged the government to act quickly to allow travel to more European destinations and the US as thousands of people flew overseas after the UK’s ban on foreign holidays was lifted on Monday.
British Airways and Heathrow criticized the limited green list of 12 countries where quarantine-free travel is allowed and called on the government to publish an “expected list” of destinations being considered for summer travel for customers to plan.
Heathrow executive director John Holland-Kaye said France, Greece and Spain should be included and he was “surprised and disappointed” that the Caribbean did not make the green list.
“This is urgent now … if there isn’t a short vacation in July and August, a lot of companies won’t make it until next year,” he said.
“It’s not a choice between public health and business. We can do both using the government’s risk-based approach. “
BA chief Sean Doyle said: “We understand that America should be on the green list.”
EasyJet General Manager Johan Lundgren said: “The latest data suggests that most of Europe could be on the green list of categories from now on.”
So far, only Portugal has been on the green list of major UK holiday destinations. Airlines are Sale of flights to other European countries with the expectation that they will be added by the summer – although ministers made a strong statement over the weekend that people should not travel to countries on the Amber List
Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the amber list – including Spain, France, Italy and Greece – included “places you shouldn’t go unless you have an absolutely compelling reason”.
Boris Johnson signaled on Friday that the list would not be expanded anytime soon, with concerns about new variants of Covid, particularly from India.
Medical experts also warned against travel. Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust charity, told the BBC: “I think travel should still be very careful and only when absolutely necessary.”
Passengers traveling to an amber country must be quarantined at home for 10 days on their return, while passengers traveling to green list countries are required to be quarantined abroad and again two days after their return and before the departure of the others Countries must take a test requirements.
Holiday flights took off from airports across the UK to Portugal on Monday. 16 landed in Faro in the Algarve alone.
Gatwick Airport executive director Stewart Wingate said restarting vacation travel is a huge relief. Although Sussex Airport is still expecting less than 15% of the pre-pandemic traffic by the end of May, he said, “It’s an important day for us and an important first step and we look forward to seeing more countries in put on the green list in the coming weeks. “
The passengers spoke of their joy at flying abroad. Keith and Janice Tomsett, 72 and 71 years old, from West Chiltington in West Sussex flew from Gatwick to the Portuguese island of Madeira on Monday morning.
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Keith Tomsett told PA News Agency, “We’ve all gone through tires, PCR tests … after 15 months of being locked up, that’s incredibly good.”
At Heathrow, 29-year-old Erica Stolton traveled to Madrid to introduce her baby to her family. She told Reuters, “It feels absolutely magical. It was really difficult to deal with this pandemic. “
The government has announced that it will next update the lists on June 7th.
BA’s Doyle said he believes there is a momentum in both the US and the UK to open a transatlantic travel corridor: “You have an airline segment where the domestic market is almost normal and the economy is opening up … you come from a position where dynamism is increasing and international travel is clearly in your sights. “
He denied that the airlines were inappropriately pushing in the face of health concerns: “We have not pushed for full opening of travel … Our first call is really to use the data to make more countries greener. It is important that we have a framework against which we can plan.
“We have the ability to allow people who have been vaccinated to travel smoothly and then we can focus resources on other elements of risk. We try to be constructive and pragmatic. “
Doyle said BA passengers who booked for amber destinations would have the flexibility to change their flights if they didn’t switch to the green list.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Transport has introduced a Covid charter for vacationers to keep them informed of their rights and obligations when traveling abroad. This also highlights that they are entitled to a full refund in the event that a flight, ferry, cruise, or package holiday is canceled.
Aviation Secretary Robert Courts said: “When you step aboard this summer, you must be aware that travel will be different and prepare accordingly.”
