Great bookings scramble
Demand up 3,000% and airlines lay on extra jets as UK’s green list grows
SUN-STARVED holidaymakers rushed to book flights abroad yesterday after the quarantine-free green list was expanded.
Travel firms reported an explosion in demand for destinations including the Balearics, Malta, Madeira and some Caribbean islands.
Airlines scrambled to lay on dozens of extra flights and larger planes to meet demand as bookings for the Balearics, including Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca, surged 3,000 per cent for July alone.
Meanwhile bookings for Malta and Madeira soared by almost 1,500 per cent, Jet2 said. It has laid on an extra 70 flights to meet demand, including flights from Edinburgh to Ibiza, Menorca, Palma and Madeira from the start of July.
Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said: ‘We knew that there was a lot of pent-up demand out there but the response from our customers has been truly incredible.
‘Bookings to Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Malta and
Madeira have gone through the roof, which shows just how much UK holidaymakers want to get away.’
BA is arranging for larger Airbus A320 and A321 planes to replace smaller A319s to deal with demand on some routes.
‘Sowing more confusion’
EasyJet, which offers flights to Palma from Edinburgh and Glasgow, is laying on 50,000
more seats on planes destined for green-list destinations.
Ryanair announced an extra 200,000 seats for flights to Malta, Ibiza and Majorca for July, August and September.
The budget airline also triggered a price war by offering seats from as little as £19.99.
Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, said: ‘People have been dreaming of their first post-holiday lockdown for some time now and there’s an incredible pent-up demand.
‘Many of our customers are snapping-up last-minute getaways for a very well-deserved break.’
Travel chiefs said, however, that more countries should have been put on the green list. And
they criticised the creation of a watchlist which means destinations can return to amber at very short notice, as with Portugal earlier this month.
Of the 16 destinations added
to the green list by ministers on Thursday night, all but one were placed on the watchlist.
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary said: ‘This announcement is a step in the right direction, adding the Balearics and Malta. But it creates more confusion. This amendment to the traffic light system is no longer green, amber and red, it’s now green, green watch – whatever the hell that means – and amber and red.
‘[UK Transport Secretary] Grant Shapps is sowing more confusion by trying to do the right thing but making a mess.’ He said that Cyprus, the Canaries and some Greek islands should also have been added to the green list given ‘their Covid case rates are as low as they are in Malta and the Balearics.’
Tim Alderslade of Airlines UK said: ‘The next review must remedy this by putting data
ahead of politics and substantially adding to the green list as a matter of urgency.’
There was also fury over ministers’ failure to say when
relaxed restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers would be introduced.
Under the plans, the double jabbed will be able to dodge quarantine on their return from amber countries. They would need to take only two tests, one pre-return and another on day
two post-arrival, rather than the three required now.
This would effectively turn amber countries green for fully vaccinated people.
The change is expected to come into effect in August, but Mr Shapps will not announce anything concrete until next month.
The Scottish Government said it remains ‘cautious’ about future plans.
There are now 27 destinations on the green list following Thursday night’s announcement, up from 11.