In encouraging news for international travel, American Airlines is increasing its Summer schedule by restarting ten routes to the US from airports in the UK and Europe. These include flights from major travel hubs including Barcelona El Prat, Dublin, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Madrid Barajas, Milan Malpensa, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino. As part of American’s alliance with Alaska …

The European Commission has laid out proposals to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate “safe free movement” within the EU during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Digital Green Certificate will act as proof a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19, received a negative test result or recovered from having had the virus. It will record if a person has received a Covid-19 …

Virgin Atlantic is urging the reopening of UK and US borders to enable vital transatlantic flights to resume. The call came exactly a year since the US closed its borders to UK and Irish citizens and the week that the airline secured £160 million in additional funding in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. North Atlantic routes represented around 70% of …

Customer confidence in travelling overseas this summer has returned strongly, according to Jet2 and Jet2holidays. The UK’s second largest travel and airline group predicted “sunnier skies” ahead as it marked a year since the government first advised against all non-essential travel overseas in response to the Covid crisis. Travel confidence has returned strongly over the past several weeks on the …

Travel to and within the European Union this summer could be opened up if Brussels agrees plans today (Wednesday) for Covid-19 vaccine certificates. The European Commission’s plan for a ‘digital green certificate’ will be a proof of vaccination, immunity and test results, preventing the need for quarantines or travel bans. Spain, Greece, Italy and other Mediterranean countries will be able …

Portugal, including the islands of Madeira and the Azores, is to be removed from the ‘red list’ of countries from where visitors are subject to hotel quarantine restrictions from Friday. Indian ocean nation Mauritius is also to be moved as of 4am on March 19 in rules that apply only to England. While arrivals from these countries no longer have …

Ryanair is extending its zero flight change fee for all customers who book before June 30. Passengers can move their travel dates twice at no cost until the end of October. The move comes as the budget carrier looks to encourage summer flight bookings in the expectation of travel restrictions starting to relax as vaccination programmes accelerate throughout Europe. Marketing director …

Turkey is ready to welcome British travellers as soon as international travel from the UK is allowed. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the country is prepared to accept Britons as Turkey will have all the necessary protocols in place to keep everyone safe. “We are working with the British authorities to ensure these necessary processes are world-class …

With UK travellers welcome in Greece from mid-May, demand for summer holidays has spiked. Ryanair hopes to meet that demand, and announced three new Greece routes set to begin on 1 July, as well as extra frequencies on other sunshine routes to Greece. The budget airline is launching flights from Stansted Airport to Santorini, Zakynthos and Preveza It has also …

Heathrow Airport CEO Emma Gilthorpe told MPs the wait for processing at border points is at an ‘unacceptable level’ with waits of up to six hours. Gilthorpe told the Home Affairs Select Committee ‘the level of complexity of the processes’ is causing huge bottlenecks. Due to specific protocols, all of Heathrow’s self-service e-gates at passport control are currently closed. International …

Ministers are being urged to maintain the May 17 deadline for the resumption of international travel as laid out in the government’s Covid-19 roadmap. A delay to the restart date will see airlines and airports continue to suffer, the government has been warned. MPs on the Commons transport committee said that the initial target date of May 17 for restarting …

Ryanair has officially launched its Covid-19 Travel Wallet, where customers can upload details of Covid documents such as negative PCR tests, vaccination certificates. The budget carrier, which has already said it would roll out such a system, said the wallet is only available in the Ryanair app. The UK government’s Global Travel Taskforce is discussing whether a form of health certification …