Boris Johnson’s administration is set to put forward a report on April 12. The global travel taskforce will put forward a report on how the government is going to resume international travel.
Despite pressure coming from airline companies and the rest of the travel industry, Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to keep the ban on non-essential international travel at least until May 17. This applies to non-essential travel to and from England.
Boris Johnson told the parliament that he is going to give Britons enough time to plan their holiday. He said that “I believe that setting a deadline of April 12 for the report will give people time to make their plans for summer”. He added that “If things go well, then I do believe there is a chance of an aviation recovery later this year”.
Because of the news, holiday bookings surged and some sites experienced a spike in their usual traffic. EasyJet reported a 337% surge in their flight bookings including a 630% spike in holiday bookings in Alicante, Malaga, Palmo, and other popular destinations. Popular dates were in August followed by July and September. EasyJet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren said that this “provided a much-needed boost in confidence”.
Airlines are looking forward to seeing international travel resume by summer as 2020 produced minimal revenues. Many are hoping that the report will be in their favor. Analysts even believe that airlines will need to raise more funds to survive as most already burned their cash reserves. After the announcement, EasyJet and British Airways shares jumped by 7% and even outperformed the 4% jump in Europe’s travel and leisure industry.
Britain is one of the worst-hit countries by the COVID19 pandemic with more than 120,000 deaths. However, UK’s vaccination program kicked off earlier than most countries. More than 17 million individuals now received their first dose of the COVID19 vaccine. That’s approximately one-third of the UK’s adult population.
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