Scheduled holiday flights fall by 31 per cent as ministers urged to speed up 'air bridges' for holidaymakers

Holiday flights scheduled for July have been slashed by 31 per cent as the Government was urged to accelerate “air bridges” for Britons to fly abroad to stave off more job losses.

Despite indications from ministers that “air bridges” will be announced by the end of June, some airports and airlines have seen scheduled flights already cut by as much as 70 per cent compared with July last year - and even more could be axed if they are not filled and passengers stay away.

Overall, the number of flights scheduled to depart UK airports in the peak summer holiday month are down to 26,111 from 37,653 in July 2019, according to the latest data.

The most popular countries are Spain (down 19 per cent), Greece (down six per cent), Italy (down 34 per cent) and France (down 29 per cent).

They are all countries which are thought likely to be ones where the UK could make agreements for “travel corridors” or “air bridges” that would allow British holidaymakers to sidestep the 14-day quarantine on their return to the UK.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday: “Ahead of the formal legally-required review of the quarantine arrangements on June 29, I am working with Grant Shapps [Transport Secretary] on whether there are countries that have a low rate of infection, where we trust their figures, where the infection isn't going up and we can have that discussion with the other country, and come to an agreement on a travel corridor.”

However, travel industry chiefs warned the Government needed to give a clearer indication of where and when people could start booking their holidays to safeguard the scheduled flights and prevent them being axed - as happened in May and June.

Paul Charles, a spokesman for Quash Quarantine, a campaign group of more than 500 travel and hospitality businesses, said: “If quarantine measures were clearly signalled to end in June, there would be more scheduled flights. The more delays there are in decisions, the more jobs will be lost.”

The data shows the hardest hit are long haul operators and destinations with British Airways down 74 per cent with 3,367 flights and Virgin Atlantic down 63 per cent on 386 flights.

The domestic carrier Loganair is down 92 per cent with just 19 flights scheduled but said it was reviewing its schedules on a month basis “as the restrictions change.”

By contrast Easyjet, which will have the first scheduled holiday flight of the summer tomorrow (Fri) to Nice, has a six per cent growth in its schedules for July, according to the Cirium, a travel data analytics company.

Heathrow airport, which announced 500 job losses this month, faces a 68 per cent reduction in scheduled flights in July to 3,253, while Gatwick is down 18 per cent at 7,088 flights. By contrast Manchester is down by just two per cent, Luton by seven per cent and Bristol by 11 per cent.

Karen Dee, Chief Executive, Airport Operators Association, said it was not just about scheduled flights but filling them with passengers.

“Over the last few months we have seen a significant fall in passenger numbers, with some airports reporting just 3% of passengers travelling in May compared to last year,” she said.

“This fall reflects the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on our aviation sector and reinforces the need for the Government to step up and increase its support to get Britain flying again.”