International travel in and out of UK will be permitted from 17 May at the earliest, Boris Johnson says
UK-based airlines and travel operators saw website traffic and bookings boom in the hours following the Prime Minister’s address to the nation, where he outlined plans for the lifting of lockdown.
Boris Johnson said that restrictions on international travel would be removed on 17 May at the earliest and that all lockdown restrictions in England would lift by 21 June.
EasyJet said in a statement that it saw bookings “take off” following the roadmap for return to international travel. The airline reported a 337 percent surge in flight bookings and a 630 percent jump in holiday bookings, according to the BBC. Bookings are strongest in August, followed by July and then September, the report said.
Meanwhile, Thomas Cook reported a 100 percent spike in web traffic on Monday with bookings “flooding in”. Tui said it had had its best day of bookings in over a month.
“The announcement will provide consumers with much-needed reassurance that travel will reopen,” said Johan Lundgren, easyJet CEO.
“We know there is pent up demand to travel and easyJet is ready and able to ramp up flights when international travel begins again to take our customers away to see friends and family or on long-awaited holiday breaks this summer.”
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ CEO, said: “It is critical we start looking at a way to restart travel and we are pleased the Government has acknowledged that.
“We are an island nation whose history and future is defined by its connections with the world. UK aviation supports 1.56 million jobs and one in ten jobs depends on travel and tourism, contributing £200 billion to the UK economy.”
The move is good news for Gulf carriers, some of which rely on the UK as a key market.
“The UK has always been a lucrative route for many Gulf carriers, just the first week of 2021 Dubai-London had been the busiest route in the Middle East. The travel restrictions in the UK had a definite impact on demand recovery of Gulf carriers,” said Rania Bisher Hanbali, external consultant at Bauer Aviation Advisory.
“Where most travel will be VFR (visiting friends and relatives), Gulf carriers could play a big role in contributing to the demand of those travels for both point-to point and connecting passengers through the Gulf hubs.”
About Guide2Uganda
Guide2Uganda (www.guide2uganda.ug) is the most comprehensive source of travel information about Uganda that exists on the web, with more content on its cities & towns, accommodation, attractions, events, museums and galleries than any other online guide that currently exists for Uganda; as well as being a dynamic travel news and events driven site with fresh content added daily.
According to WeFollow & Peer Index (that measure online influence), we are among the most influential online media organizations in Uganda. Guide2Uganda was also awarded ‘’Best Destination Website in Uganda’’ by Jumia Travel Uganda in the 2018 Africa Travel Awards.
Share your travel stories & photos with the world via email: info@guide2uganda.ug
