Airlines blast Britain's travel restart plan, Jet2 cancels holidays until June

British travel company Jet2 said it was cancelling holidays until late June, blaming uncertainty in UK government plans for restarting international travel, which were condemned by airlines. Flight operators had been counting on government proposals published on Friday to allow planning for a summer getaway season, but the industry criticised the release for not including a start date for travel or listing which countries would be open for holidaymakers. “We are extremely disappointed at the lack of clarity and detail,” said Jet2 CE Steve Heapy. “The framework lacks any rigorous detail about how to get international travel going again.” Jet2, the UK’s third largest carrier by passenger numbers, said it had no choice but to cancel flights and holidays to June 23, over a month later than the May 17 date the government has said is the earliest for international travel to resume. The country’s largest airline, easyJet, also criticised the government’s plans, saying the requirement for an expensive PCR COVID-19 test for trips to low-risk countries would mean that only wealthy people could take holidays abroad.<br/>