Shares in European airlines fell this morning after the UK government announced its green list of countries available for international travel from May 17.
Only 12 countries made it on to the green list. Those countries include Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. The most popular holiday destinations from the UK – Spain, Italy and Greece – remain on the Amber list.
Shares in easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and British Airways parent IAG fell by more than 2% in early trading. Travel tour operators Tui and Jet2 were also impacted.
Commenting on the green list announcement, the Airport Operators Association Chief Executive Karen Dee, said that the limited number of nations on the list was “disappointing” and that “this is not the meaningful restart aviation and the UK economy need right now”.
She added that the UK’s world vaccination programme combined with advanced testing capabilities should allow for a genuine green light for international travel. “The Government needs to introduce affordable, rapid testing for green country arrivals and keep the green list under constant review and add countries as soon as the improving health situation in Europe and the US allows.”
“After a devastating year for UK airports, we cannot afford another false dawn: it is vital for the UK’s economic recovery that we get this right.”
AOA research, based on the latest Air Passenger Duty (APD) statistics published by HMRC on 30 April, shows the scale of the financial impact of COVID-19 on aviation. In the first year of the pandemic (March 2020-February 2021), HMRC collected less in APD (£638.3m) than it did in just the two summer months July-August 2019 (£729.9m). In total, HMRC collected more than £3bn (83.3%) less tax from March 2020-February 2021 than it did in the same period in 2019/20.
“The latest Government figures on Air Passenger Duty show just how near-complete the collapse in air traffic has been as a result of the pandemic. With aviation being a driver of economic growth and prosperity and 1.6m jobs relying on aviation and tourism in the UK, our economic recovery hinges upon allowing the safe re-opening of international travel,” said Dee.
Following Friday’s announcement, Skyscanner noted that searches and bookings over the weekend for destinations on the green list rose substantial, with Portugal emerging as the favourite. Bookings to Portugal rose by 663% on Friday in reaction to the news, and took the lion’s share of bookings among the green list of countries.
Please see the top searched destinations over the weekend (economy class, return travel from the UK in 2021):
| # | Destination City Name |
| 1 | Faro |
| 2 | Lisbon |
| 3 | Porto |
| 4 | Alicante |
| 5 | Madeira |
| 6 | Malaga |
| 7 | Tel Aviv |
| 8 | London |
| 9 | Tenerife |
| 10 | Gibraltar |
“We saw a busy weekend of searches and bookings, as engaged travellers reacted to the news of the green list,” said Gavin Harris, Pricing and Deals Expert at Skyscanner. “Our data clearly shows that people want European beach holidays, as Portugal was by far the top searched and booked destination on Skyscanner. The green list announcement also drove searches for amber countries like Spain for later in the year. The average fare for bookings made over the weekend remained lower than usual, with return tickets to Porto costing on average £101, Lisbon sitting at £114 and Faro at £127. Plenty of travel providers are keeping prices low to compete for bookings and there are still extremely attractive deals to be had for spring and summer trips.”