Some Portugal passengers still plan to travel despite rule change

Half of passengers booked to travel to Portugal this month with Tui are going ahead with their trips, despite the country being moved to the amber list.

Tui said it was not scheduling extra flights to bring holidaymakers home ahead of the change on Tuesday.

The travel firm currently has about 8,000 UK visitors in Portugal, although it will fall to 2,000 after Sunday as many return at the end of half term.

British Airways and Easyjet are both putting on extra flights.

But holidaymakers scrambling for flights home from Portugal before the new rules come in are facing expensive tickets.

A seat on a Ryanair flight from the capital Lisbon to Manchester on Monday costs £339, while travel on the same route is available for just £75 on Wednesday.

British Airways is charging £471 for flights from Faro to London Heathrow on Sunday and Monday, but the price drops to £137 on Tuesday.

BA said: "We are increasing the number of flights from Portugal to help customers who wish to return to the UK before it moves to the amber list at 04:00 on Tuesday 8 June."

It has arranged three additional flights from tourist hotspot Faro on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Meanwhile, Easyjet has added additional seats from Portugal to the UK on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

More than 1,000 additional seats have been added on routes from Faro to London Gatwick, London Luton, Bristol and Manchester by flying larger aircraft and adding extra flights.

"With many British tourists currently in Portugal, our priority is to help the customers who need to return ahead of the Tuesday deadline," said Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive.

Jet2 CEO Stephen Heapy said his airline first heard about the change to Portugal's status through the media and that the move was "soul-destroying".

"The Government set out its roadmap a few weeks ago saying we wouldn't be doing the eternal hokey cokey — in and out like we were last year — and lo and behold, three weeks after commencement of flying to Portugal, we're out again," Mr Heapy said.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said the decision to move Portugal to the amber list "isn't based on any science or public health" and accused the government of making up policy "as they go along".

"What we don't understand is why the UK, which has been so successful with vaccines, is expecting its vaccinated citizens travelling to Portugal coming back to quarantine," he told BBC Breakfast.

Mr O'Leary said the decision was "more mismanagement of the Covid recovery" and had created "unnecessary disruption and stress for hundreds of thousands of British families".

Aviation lobby group Airlines UK has written to the transport secretary Grant Shapps asking for the full criteria which determines when a destination is removed or added to the green list to be published.

Low-cost airline Jet2 has delayed the planned restart of its flights and holidays from 24 June to 1 July, following the government changes to travel lists announced on Thursday.

Because Turkey was left on the red list, it said it would wait until 22 July before restarting flights and holidays there.

"We know that there is enormous pent-up demand for our flights and package holidays," said Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2. "Our customers want nothing more than to get away on their much-needed holidays."

He called for "openness and transparency" on coronavirus data, so that travellers and the travel industry could better understand the decisions being made.

"We agree that public health must be the number one priority. However, despite all the evidence and data showing that travel can restart safely and at scale, the UK continues to remain largely grounded whilst the rest of Europe opens up," he said.

Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye accused the government of "all but guaranteeing another lost summer for the travel sector".