Covid-19 travel rules 'a blow', says London Southend Airport boss

An airport boss has called the tighter rules on foreign travel "yet another blow for the aviation industry".

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps removed Portugal from the green list on Thursday and did not add more countries to the category.

Southend Airport chief executive officer Glyn Jones said: "It really is one step forward and two back."

He said the government needed to "trust the vaccination rollout" or "offer substantial support to the sector".

"Clarity is needed as confusion reigns; the ongoing costs and restrictions limit travel to the wealthy while families remain separated by borders, tourism continues to suffer and well-deserved holidays seem out of reach," he said.

He added that it expected green lists to be updated throughout the summer as vaccines were rolled out across Europe, and was hopeful the next travel review announcement at the end of June would include many routes from London Southend.

In England's traffic light scheme, introduced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, countries are classed as green, amber or red - with different rules for quarantine and Covid tests.

The new measures, due to come into force at 04:00 BST on Tuesday, mean English tourists should not visit Portugal and returnees must isolate for 10 days. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have confirmed they will adopt the same changes.

Mr Shapps cited rising cases and a Covid mutation found in the country, saying ministers did not want to take risks before the planned final easing of England's restrictions.

Chrissie Gipson from Southend arrived in Portugal on Tuesday and is booked to return on 8 June, missing the deadline to avoid self-isolation by hours.

Because holidays to the country were allowed and her party was unable to get a refund, they spent £2,000 on Covid tests to be able to go on the previously postponed trip.

She said the party of nine, who are staying in Albufeira, were now faced with a "big decision" - whether to keep their original flight and have to quarantine, or pay about £2,000 to return on an earlier flight.

"It's very frustrating because in hindsight potentially we wouldn't have travelled," she said.

"We understand why they're doing this but originally we were told that there would be a week's grace in order for people to get back.

"What do we do? Do we pay out another £2,000 to get back or do we just have to sit it out and quarantine and rearrange everything?

"I understand the difficulties the government face, but I think the fact that there does seem to be some flip-flopping - whereby they're saying 'we'll give a week's notice before changing things' and then suddenly it comes into force within the next five days - is leaving a lot of people frustrated."

Mr Jones' comments came as the chief executive of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns and operates London Stansted Airport, accused the government of "unfairly scapegoating" international travel and placing thousands of jobs at risk.

Charlie Cornish questioned why "low-risk destinations", which he said had lower case rates than the UK, had been left off the green list "despite clear evidence they are safe to visit".

He added the government's "lack of transparency is shocking and totally unacceptable" and that the group was "being left in the dark" about why decisions were made "with no opportunity for scrutiny or challenge".

"That is not the way to go about limiting people's freedoms and crippling the country's travel and tourism sectors," he said.

"With so much at stake, we need immediate transparency and urgent action to make this system of travel restrictions fit for purpose."

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