The Week In Travel

UK travel firm Tui has predicted that the combination of the January pay day with the recent announcement that COVID tests will be scrapped for fully vaccinated arrivals in England and Scotland will see ‘the biggest booking day for travel since before the pandemic’.

In addition, a number of leading airlines have reported a sizeable surge in bookings since the restrictions were relaxed last week, with EasyJet announcing that UK bookings have risen considerably over the past week and Jet2 reporting a 30% spike in bookings.

The wider vibe of optimism was also reflected in new figures from Eurocontrol which this week reported that Europe’s air traffic is ‘on track to recover to 70-90% of 2019 levels’ by the end of 2022.

Budget carrier Wizz Air has added four new routes from Gatwick, in time for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. From late March, the airline will now take travellers to Venice and Palermo, in addition to adding two new Bulgarian destinations, with flights from Varna and Burgas being added to the schedule from mid-June.

In a bit to maintain this momentum, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to accelerate the loosening of travel restrictions, with IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh stating that ‘travel does not increase the risk to general populations’ and that ‘the measures have not worked’.

In other news, Director General of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec, and Director General of Eurocontrol, Eamonn Brenn, this week signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding to continue to work together with a focus on efficiency and sustainability. The Memorandum aims to provide guidance for airports to follow to reduce their environmental impact and improve collaboration between airport platforms and Air Traffic Management.

And finally, a British Airways Boeing 747 purchased for £1 in 2020 has been converted into an events space to host product launches, corporate events, private birthday parties and more. The plane is located at the privately-owned Cotswold Airport - and is available for people to hire for around £1,000 per hour.