NEWS


Clockwise from left: Worldchoice Independent Holidays, Widnes; Destination, Silsden, West Yorkshire; Jill Waite, Pole Travel, Greater Manchester; Kayne Travel, South Yorkshire; and consultants Sarah Hill and Jodie Mann of Idle Travel, Bradford


Travel starts to move again but quarantine plans remain unclear


Ian Taylor


EasyJet resumed flying and high street shops reopened this week, fuelling hopes of an end to travel restrictions, but the prime minister defended the UK quarantine insisting “we don’t want to import the disease”. Media reports suggested


heading towards where we want to be.” Johnson defended the quarantine


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a review of quarantine measures, due by June 29, would take place on June 25-26. However, an initial relaxation appears unlikely to extend beyond travel to the EU. An aviation industry source said:


“We’re waiting to hear how we feed into the review. The government seems to be following a process where we get one thing at a time – face masks, health guidance. It’s frustrating, but we’re


travelweekly.co.uk


in the government briefing on Tuesday, but said: “We’re certainly looking at air corridors.” EasyJet relaunched domestic flights with a departure from Gatwick to Glasgow on Monday. The EC recommended


travel to and from some non- EU countries restarts from July


1. However, Germany extended its advice against travel to 160 countries, including Turkey, until August 31. That did not stop Tui confirming a


partial summer restart from Germany with “two fully booked flights to Majorca” departing on Monday. Tui said: “We anticipate the UK


to follow later in the summer.” The group plans to operate to


Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Portugal from July, when it will reopen 50% of its hotels. The industry campaign against


quarantine stepped up as BA, easyJet and Ryanair sought a judicial review in the High Court and the Quash Quarantine group of businesses urged home secretary Priti Patel to resign if she loses the case. However, an aviation source said the legal challenge “is not the answer”, adding: “The prize is to have detail on what is coming next.” The government signalled an


important step towards restarting flights by publishing Covid-19 safety guidance which confirmed the need for passengers to wear face coverings and to minimise hand baggage, following guidelines already laid out by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International


Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Dale Keller, chief executive of the


UK Board of Airline Representatives, said: “The UK is one of the first to put ICAO and EASA guidelines into its guidance. It’s important to bring some commonality.” However, Ryanair dismissed the guidance as “rubbish” and recommended “passengers minimise checked-in luggage”. Transport secretary Grant Shapps


defended the quarantine, saying it has “broad public support” and confirmed: “We’re actively working on [travel corridors], talking to airlines and other countries. There will be more on this before long.” Portugal’s prime minister said talks on a UK air bridge were “going well”, but Spain and Italy were said to want


an EU-wide agreement with Britain. i Scientists back quarantine, back page


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