MPs demand criteria for timetable for summer holiday unlocking and quarantine abolition

‘A roadmap to restart international travel is urgently needed,’ says the latest Transport Select Committee report

Sunny outlook? The beach at the Polish resort of Sopot (Simon Calder)

The government must reveal how it will ease travel restrictions by 12 April, a cross-party group of MPs has demanded.

For the last 11 weeks, all holidays from the UK have been illegal. Residents of England have been told they may not go abroad for non-essential purposes until 17 May at the earliest.

The administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not yet set proposed dates for ending their bans on overseas travel.

In an interim report into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector, the Transport Select Committee says: “The aviation industry thrives on certainty.

“Redundancies have mounted as the restart date for international travel continues to be delayed.

“In order to return passenger aircraft to the skies and to connect the UK to the world, a roadmap to restart international travel is urgently needed.

“The Department [for Transport] has not yet specified the standards that destination countries must meet on vaccine and testing capabilities in order to reopen for travel with the UK.”

Anyone who enters the UK from abroad must self-isolate for 10 days, with some required to go into hotel quarantine.

The committee, chaired by the Tory MP Huw Merriman, said the government must also explain “when and how the current quarantine schemes will be phased out”.

The UK government has revived its Global Travel Taskforce, which is due to report on 12 April about reopening international leisure travel.

But when the aviation minister, Robert Courts, appeared before the committee, Mr Merriman asked him: “Is 12 April the day when everybody – passengers, the industry and the public at large – will hear what those proposals will be, or is that 12 April deadline the date when something gets posted to No 10?”

The minister responded: “That will be the date when we report back to the prime minister. After that, we will have a process of considering the recommendations and how they are going to be carried into effect.

“At the moment, I cannot tell you whether it is likely to be that date in April or the date in May.”

The report says: “The government must commit to publishing the Global Travel Taskforce report on 12 April to give consumers and industry the certainty that they need to plan for a summer 2021 restart for international travel.”

The MPs also heard evidence last week from industry leaders including Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair.

He told the meeting: “Hotel quarantine has been a PR stunt. It is shambolic and ineffective.

“It will play no role in keeping out the Covid virus, in exactly the same way as the previous quarantining at your home, only after you had travelled there on London Underground, buses, trains or Tubes, was completely ineffective.”

Yesterday the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, reiterated a warning not to book overseas holidays during the current uncertainty.