• Allow Vaccinated People To Travel Freely
• Scrap Pcr Tests Requirement For Green Countries

Ryanair, Europe’s no. 1 airline has today (1 June) called on Minister for Transport Grant Shapps to open up international travel from all EU countries in his next revision of the UK’s green list on 3^rd June. Ryanair also urged Mr. Shapps to abolish travel restrictions for everyone that has been fully vaccinated and to scrap the current requirement to present a negative PCR test when coming back from EU green countries, which only adds cost and stress to UK citizens despite returning from low-risk EU destinations.

European holiday hotspots like Spain, Greece and Italy have already opened their doors to UK tourists – as UK adult vaccinations hit 75% and with the EU on track to hit the 70% target by the end of June, infections are dropping and restriction-free travel within Europe should be allowed this Summer.

Having added Portugal to its travel green list in May, UK families have been flying in their droves to Lisbon, the Algarve and Porto. Despite the lack of clarity around the amber list, hundreds of thousands of UK holidaymakers have already booked to sunshine favourites Spain, Italy and the Greek islands for June, July and August. In order to provide as much flexibility as possible, Ryanair has extended its zero-change fee for all new bookings made before 30 September, for travel by 31 December 2021, giving customers flexibility and peace of mind should their plans change.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

 “The highly successful UK vaccine rollout has already enabled hundreds and thousands of British families to book their flights to Portugal this summer, and today we call on Minister Grant Shapps to include all EU countries in the next revision of the UK’s green list so UK holidaymakers can travel restriction-free to the beaches of Spain, Greece and Italy – all of whom have opened their doors to British visitors this summer.

 The UK Govt must scrap the nonsensical requirement of PCR tests for those returning from low-risk (green) countries. There is no point in setting up a traffic light system if ‘green’ still requires additional measures that significantly add to the cost of a family trip. There is no justification for the UK Govt to delay the removal of all travel restrictions for those who have been fully vaccinated when research from Public Health England has demonstrated that two doses of the C-19 vaccines are highly effective against the Indian variant.

 We look forward to seeing all of Europe open to restriction-free travel for British families this summer, and to welcoming millions of British guests on board very soon”.