It’s the news both staff and holiday makers have been longing for since lockdown and marks the start of a return to business and hopefully jobs.
The lifting of
quarantine restrictions for inbound passengers means that airlines can now fly
to over 75% of the destinations Gatwick served before the COVID19 crisis.
In response,
from this Friday, fourteen airlines will fly from Gatwick to 42 destinations in
23 countries, including popular short haul summer holiday destinations in
Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Croatia, Greece and Turkey.
Airlines flying
to these destinations from Gatwick include easyJet, TUI, Air Europa, Turkish
Airlines and Vueling.
Regular short haul
services are also flying to Ireland, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe by airlines
including Ryanair, Norwegian, Air Baltic and Wizz Air.
British Airways
also resumed long haul flights from Gatwick last Friday (17 July) with services
to Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica and St Lucia, with Air Transat starting flights
to Canada on 24 July, followed by WestJet from in August.
Stewart Wingate, Gatwick Airport CEO, said:
“The introduction of travel corridors is very welcome and means that we could now fly to over 75% of our pre COVID-19 destinations without passengers having to quarantine on their return. Passengers should feel confident about booking summer holidays abroad to these destinations and visiting family and friends.
“The safety and wellbeing of passengers and everyone who works at Gatwick remains a priority and – in partnership with our airlines – a range of new measures are in place across the airport. We are determined to play our part in keeping the spread of COVID-19 down.
“While we
hope that the introduction of travel corridors marks a turning point, the
aviation industry still has a long way to go to in its recovery from this
pandemic however and we call on Government to introduce specific measures to
further help the sector.
“Even though
we are starting to see the beginning of small green shoots of recovery demand
is still down considerably and we want to preserve jobs alongside offering a
first rate passenger experience in this new COVID-19 world. We hope consumer
confidence will continue to grow over the summer.”