Bristol Airport today welcomed the findings of the government’s Global Travel Taskforce, which recommended that overseas travel could resume on May 17 at the earliest – but said clarity over pre-flight Covid tests and their cost was urgently needed.
At the same time, low-cost leisure airline Jet2, which was due to launch its first flights from Bristol this month, suspended all services until June 23, with its chief executive accusing the government of leaving the industry in the dark. 
Transport Secretary Grant Schapps this morning announced a traffic light system with countries to be categorised on the level of risk to travellers from contracting Covid-19.
Key factors in the assessment will include the percentage of the country’s population that have been vaccinated, the rate of infection, the prevalence of variants of concern and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.
As well as green, amber and red lists, there will also be a ‘green watchlist’ identifying countries most at risk of moving from green to amber. No countries have yet been placed in categories.
But research from the travel association ABTA and the Airport Operators Association found the cost of PCR tests for international travel in the UK, at just under £62, was more than double the average across other European countries.
Mr Schapps said he was working to drive down the cost of tests.
Bristol Airport CEO Dave Lees, pictured, said the airport’s research had shown a pent-up demand for air travel in the region and it was committed to working with the government to resume flights to holiday hotspots in time for the prime summer season.
However, action was needed first over the cost of testing, he said. 
“We welcome the initial report looking at the restart of international travel from May 17 onwards and introducing the tiered structure of red, amber and green and a ‘green watch list’ of countries,” he added.
“However, customers and the travel industry urgently require clarity on the next steps needed to resume air travel and particularly the need for customers to have a cheaper and more customer-friendly testing process being in place.
“From our customer research we know there is pent-up customer demand for air travel with 86% (9,800 responses) of customers wanting to travel within the next 12 months.”
He said the government needed to safely unlock the travel industry ahead of the peak travel period.
“Bristol Airport is committed to work with government on all measures necessary to reopen international travel to support customers, colleagues and assisting the region’s economic recovery and protecting jobs now and in the future from the impact of this devasting pandemic,” he added.
Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said he was “extremely disappointed at the lack of clarity and detail” in the Global Travel Taskforce’s framework.
“After several weeks exploring how to restart international travel, with substantial assistance and input from the industry, the framework lacks any rigorous detail about how to get international travel going again,” he said. 
“In fact, the framework is virtually the same as six months ago. Following the publication of the framework today, we still do not know when we can start to fly, where we can fly to and the availability and cost of testing. Rather than answering questions, the framework leaves everyone asking more.
“Because of the continued uncertainty that the framework provides, it is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision to extend the suspension of flights and holidays up to and including 23rd June.”
Jet2, which also operates the Jet2holidays brand, announced last November that it will base three, 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Bristol Airport this year, enabling it to operate 56 weekly flights to 33 destinations, bringing an additional 450,000-seat capacity to the airport.
It has already said it will add four more destinations next year to take the total to 37.
The arrival of Jet 2 at the airport will also create more than 200 jobs in roles ranging from flight and cabin crew to engineers and ground operations staff, Jet2 said.
Other travel industry figures also slammed today’s announcement from the government, with industry body Airlines UK saying that the proposed framework “does not represent a reopening of travel as promised by ministers”.
Holiday company Tui, which flies from Bristol, said it was “disappointed” at the “expensive” testing and quarantine measures proposed.
Tui’s summer 2022 programme from Bristol Airport, which it launched last October, includes 36 destinations, including long-haul favourites Cancun and Florida.
A large Turkey programme will also be available, with four weekly flights to Antalya and Dalaman, in addition to Bodrum flights, while there will be services to eight Greek islands.
