Jet2 confirms flight restart date after Government announces 'green list' countries you can fly to without self-isolating

The so-called 'green list' is a list of countries that people can visit without needing to self-isolate on their return from May 17.

The popular summer short-haul destinations are Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel.

Meanwhile Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal have been added to the red list, the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed.

CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, Steve Heapy, said he was "pleased" the Government had committed to reopening travel, but said there is still "a long way to go".

Mr Heapy said: "We are pleased that the UK Government has committed to reopening international travel this summer, and we welcome some of the additional clarity that has been provided today.

"Despite ‘wanting to start looking outward again’ there is still a long way to go to meet the huge customer demand for our flights and ATOL protected package holidays, so we look forward to further positive news about where we can fly to in the coming weeks.

"We also look forward to important updates from the UK Government about a simple and affordable testing regime for customers.

"Following today’s announcement, our customers can travel on their well-deserved holidays to destinations on the Green List from June 24th, and we expect a huge spike in searches and bookings to these destinations.

"We remain totally committed to our restart date of June 24th.

"Because we invest so much in delivering our award-winning customer experience, with thousands of colleagues looking after customers in airports, in the air and in our resorts, we will be working tirelessly over the next few weeks to ensure that everything is ready for the moment our customers arrive at the airport to begin their much-needed holidays.

"If customers are booked to travel on June 24th onwards and their destination is not currently on the Green List, we kindly ask that they hold off from contacting us as we take the time to make considered decisions in the best interests of customers and independent travel agency partners from all parts of the UK.

"We have received praise from customers, consumer organisations, media and independent travel agents for how we have looked after customers throughout the pandemic and we will continue this industry-leading approach.

"With sunnier skies in view, we cannot wait to get back to doing what we do best - looking after customers on our flights and real package holidays."

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the removal of international travel restrictions was “necessarily cautious” and that the Government must “make absolutely sure” the countries the UK reconnects with are safe.

He said: “We in this country have managed to construct a fortress against Covid. But the disease is still prevalent in other parts of the world, most notably at the moment in India.

“In fact, more new cases of Covid have been diagnosed around the world in the last seven days than at any time since the pandemic began.”

He added: “That’s why today’s announcement, removing the stay in the UK restrictions from May 17, is necessarily cautious.

“We must make absolutely sure that the countries we reconnect with are safe, that their infection rates are low and their vaccination rates are high.

“It means making sure we are not incubating the most dangerous variants that they’re not and that they have safe and secure surveillance in place.”

The full 'green list' is:

Portugal

Israel

Singapore

Australia

New Zealand

Brunei

Iceland

Gibraltar

Falkland Islands

Faroe Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island