Airlines report dramatic rise in scheduled flights for July

AIRLINES have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that governments will lift restrictions on holidaymakers to save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph.

The companies, which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers, are banking on a “V-shaped” recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5million seats for July, just 8 per cent down on last year’s timetables for the same month.

The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites such as Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid-June, or at least by July 1.

It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK’s quarantine, to be introduced on June 8, could be replaced with “air bridges” to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29.

One senior industry source claimed: “The sense is that they might quietly do an about-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury is against it, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is against it and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport hates it.”

Exclusive data from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, has shown how the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the aviation industry.

Scheduled passengers were 22.5million in February, 10 per cent up on last year, before figures slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. Flight are 38.5 per cent down on last year for June, as the Far East has opened up, and rise to just 8 per cent down in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking.

June and July are “scheduled” rather than actual flights, and will depend on quarantines easing over the next two month. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1.

France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15, but not with countries that impose quarantine on a “reciprocal” basis, such as the UK.

Greece has excluded the UK from a “white list” of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine, although it will open up to more countries after it reviews infection rates at the end of next month.

British Airways says it is aiming for a “meaningful return” to flying in July, Ryanair plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and easyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September.

Paul Charles, chief executive of The PC Agency, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain’s quarantine risked “killing” the economy. “Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don’t get them in June, they will go under,” he said.

The Airport Operators Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first “air bridges” to “low-risk” destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK.

The Department for Transport will shortly publish guidelines for “safe” travel, which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel, including for check-ins and payments.

An AOA spokesman said: “Once these guidelines are agreed, and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries.”

The Home Office, which has led the moves to introduce quarantine, has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus.

A Department for Transport source said: “There is certainly a willingness in government to do as much for this summer as is safe.”