Manchester Evening News 28 April 2020 - by Zara Whelan
As we enter another week of lockdown, more and more trips and breaks are being cancelled as a result of coronavirus.
Some countries are starting to relax their restrictions, government advice for Brits is still to avoid all non-essential global travel.
And while some airlines have grounded their commercial operations, others have started to commence international flights.
And while the dates are subject to change as the coronavirus situation develops, this is when the UK's major airlines and operators say they are looking at flying again.
TUI
TUI have now cancelled all holidays due to take place on or before May 14, 2020. They've also axed all of their Marella Cruises until May 31.
Although they say all other holidays after these dates are continuing to operate as planned and will be continuously reviewed.
A statement on their website says: "Due to the ongoing situation regarding COVID-19, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have advised against all but essential travel.
"Unfortunately, this means that we’re no longer able to offer TUI holidays travelling on or before 14 May 2020 and Marella Cruises sailings travelling on or before 31 May 2020.
"We've also made the difficult decision to postpone the launch of TUI River Cruises until 26 November 2020."
Wizz Air
Wizz Air has now revealed it will restart selected flights from London Luton airport on May 1.
The Hungarian carrier said it would initially operate flights to a small number of destinations, “subject to no further restrictions”.
Flights will depart to Budapest, Belgrade, Belgrade, Tenerife, Tel Aviv, Bratislava and Kosice. Several airports in Romania will also be receiving flights, including Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi, Suceava, Targu Mures, Satu Mare and Timisoara
Jet 2
Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays say they are to recommence flights from mid June.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: "Due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we’ve decided to recommence our flights programme on 17 June 2020. If you're travelling before this date, unfortunately, your booking will be affected as our flights won't be operating.
"We're proactively contacting all affected customers in departure date order, which we think is the fairest way – please be patient with us as we do this."
Easyjet
All easyJet flights are grounded until further notice. Holidays due to take place in May are currently under review.
For those with bookings in June 2020 and onwards, they say should go ahead as planned, and they'll be in touch if anything changes.
A spokesperson said: "Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, easyJet has decided to ground its fleet until further notice.
"We’re now working through how the coronavirus pandemic may impact future easyJet holidays and we’re looking at this in departure date order.
"We will communicate with those customers affected as soon as we can. Although out of our control, we’re really sorry that some holidays may be impacted. "
Ryanair
Ryanair has grounded 99% of flights, and is only operating a small number of emergency routes. They have now extended this arrangement until at least May 14.
Ryanair say if you have not received an email or SMS regarding cancellation, then your flight is operating as normal. Cancellation emails are being sent roughly two weeks before departure.
The airline said in a statement: "As most EU countries have imposed flight bans or other restrictions, over 99% of Ryanair’s aircraft are grounded for the coming weeks. We will comply with these restrictions at all times.
"We are working with EU Governments to try to keep some minimum flight links open for emergency reasons, even though the passenger loads on these flights is very low. We are extending this limited schedule by two weeks to Thurs 14 May. Ryanair is operating these flights daily or weekly."
Ryanair have confirmed a normal schedule of commercial flights won't happen until June 17, 2020.
