Covid, closures and strikes impact thousands of Christmas travellers December 27, 2021 Planned closures as well as strikes and Covid have interfered with UK travellers’ Christmas plans, with disruption set to continue this week. Rail operators – including Greater Anglia and ScotRail – were forced to make adjustments to their timetable after staff fell ill with Covid. “The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has seen a recent spike of Covid-related absences [...]
South Africa demands compensation from UK for economic damage caused by Covid travel red list in response to Omicron variant December 27, 2021 South Africa is calling for compensation from the UK for the economic damage the country suffered after it was placed on Britain’s Covid travel red list in November. South Africa’s Department of International Relations is demanding compensation after the movement of people was severely restricted, saying Africa’s largest economy took a serious beating because of [...]
European airports passenger numbers slightly up in time for Christmas after plunging amid Omicron fears December 23, 2021 Passenger traffic through European airports increased nine per cent last week, as people make journeys to meet loved ones for the festive season, amid a “substantive” drop in traffic since Omicron was first detected. The number of passengers passing through Europe’s airports has fallen by around a fifth in the three weeks after the Omicron [...]
Austria introduces tougher restrictions for UK travellers December 22, 2021 After France and Germany, Austria has become the latest EU country to tighten restrictions for those coming from the UK. From Christmas Day, Britain will be classified as a virus variant region, meaning that travellers will need to quarantine for 10 days upon entering the country. People who are fully vaccinated and have received their [...]
Travel industry 2022 lookahead: Are we back to square one? December 21, 2021 Less than a month ago, Luis Gallego – chief executive of British Airways’ (BA) owner IAG – was telling aviation stakeholders the industry’s recovery was on its way. Speaking at the Airlines UK conference in Westminster, Gallego revealed that “transatlantic bookings have reached almost 100 per cent of 2019 levels.” “I expect North Atlantic routes [...]
Travel shares tank as lockdown concerns mount December 20, 2021 Shares of airlines such as British Airways’ (BA) owner IAG as well as Easyjet have tanked today as concerns over a possible strengthening of restrictions – including a potential Christmas lockdown – mount. IAG went down 3.35 per cent to 127.62p, while Easyjet registered a 2.11 per cent decline to 497.70p. According to Francesco Ragni, [...]
Germany to ban UK travellers to slow Omicron spread December 19, 2021 Germany will ban most travellers from the UK tonight as it tries to slow the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Queues at ports and Eurostar as France travel restrictions loom December 17, 2021 Travellers waiting at UK ports for Channel ferries are reporting hour-long queues to board, while Eurostar is advising ticketless customers to steer clear of London St Pancras following the French Government’s decision to effectively close its borders to UK travellers from tonight at 11pm (GMT). UK operator P&O Ferries told the BBC that the average [...]
Accès interdit: France introduces tougher restrictions for UK travellers December 16, 2021 The French Government has toughened restrictions for UK travellers. The Prime Minister’s office has announced that from 12am Saturday (CET) all those travelling from the UK will be required to show a negative Covid test – either PCR or antigen – taken less than 24 hours, as opposed to the current time of 48 hours. [...]
Covid-19: Hotel quarantine guests allowed to leave with refunds after travel rule changes December 15, 2021 People confined to quarantine hotels in England have been allowed to leave this afternoon, on the condition of a negative Covid test, after the UK government removed all 11 countries from its travel red list yesterday, according to widespread reports. In a letter from the Department for Health, hotel guests were told they would be [...]