Ryanair has issued a new plea for the reopening of UK borders as the threat from Covid-19 recedes.
Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the low-cost carrier, criticised a “mismanagement” of the pandemic and reopening of the economy by prime minister, Boris Johnson.
He said: “The Covid-19 travel policy is a shambles.
“The green list is non-existent because countries such as Malta and Portugal, with lower Covid-19 case numbers than the UK and rapidly rising vaccination rates, remain on amber.
By Breaking Travel News
“Meanwhile, UK citizens almost 80 per cent of whom will be vaccinated by the end of June, continue to face Covid-19 restrictions on travel to and from the European Union, despite the fact that the majority of the European Union citizens will also be vaccinated by the end of June.”
O’Leary raised particular concern over the removal of Portugal from the green list earlier this month, effectively banning outbound travel.
He continued: “UK tourism and aviation needs a pragmatic travel policy, which permits vaccinated UK and EU citizens to travel between the UK and the EU without the need for quarantine or negative PCR tests.
“This will at least allow the UK tourism industry to plan for what is left of the summer season and get hundreds of thousands of people back to work.
“It is time for Boris Johnson to end his gross mismanagement of Covid-19 and the recovery from Covid-19, and take advantage of the successful vaccine programme to allow the restoration of free movement of vaccinated UK citizens and their families to and from the EU, where Covid-19 case rates are lower than the UK and vaccination rates are rising rapidly.”