Budget carrier easyJet is shifting holiday flights from the UK elsewhere in Europe because of the British government’s restrictive Covid-19 travel rules.
Several planes that had been planned to operate from the UK to Palma in Majorca will instead fly from Berlin to the Spanish destination.
A spokesperson for easyJet confirmed a report in the Independent, which said the airline has added 150,000 further seats to its intra-European network.
“We are seeing European governments progressively opening up using frameworks in place which enable travel and much of it restriction-free,” said the spokesperson.
“This relaxation and removal of restrictions has sparked a positive booking momentum across Europe with the majority of our bookings showing a strong swing towards Europe – when in normal times it would be a 50-50 split with the UK.”
The spokesperson said that Europe was showing how the safe reopening of travel was possible and urged the UK government to follow suit.
Earlier this month, the UK government moved Portugal moved from the green list to amber in its traffic light system, meaning arrivals from the country have to self-isolate for 10 days and take PCR tests.
All other European nations except Gibraltar and Iceland are also on the amber list.
Meanwhile, easyJet officially opened its seasonal base at Faro on Tuesday, the airline’s third operating base in Portugal, added to those in Lisbon and Porto.
The seasonal base will operate between March and October with three aircraft operating on 21 routes. The network will include Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and various cities across Europe.