10 2GM Monday June 29 2020 | the times
News
Holidaymakers have been warned that
it will take time to agree “air bridges”
with other countries after travel sites
were inundated with demand for sum-
mer breaks abroad over the weekend.
Priti Patel said that more detailed ne-
gotiations were required before coun-
tries allowed Britons to travel.
Agreements to allow holidaymakers
to visit selected destinations without
having to quarantine for 14 days on
their return were expected to come into
force on July 6.
However, the home secretary told
Sky News: “These measures won’t
come in overnight. They will take time
because some of this will be down to ne-
gotiation [and] discussion with certain
countries.”
She said there would be an announce-
ment in the next few days and that the
public would have to “listen to the ad-
vice, see what the government is saying
in terms of the countries that we are
going to be opening up with, who we are
working with, the countries that my col-
league the transport secretary [Grant
Shapps] is in dialogue with right now”.
Ms Patel was instrumental in intro-
ducing the quarantine policy that has
been criticised for being too late to be
effective and damaging to Britain’s frag-
ile tourism and hospitality industries.
Travel companies reported surging
demand over the weekend on the back
of predictions that holiday destinations
would reopen to British tourists. Tui,
Britain’s biggest tour operator, said that
bookings were up 50 per cent on a week
earlier. Eurotunnel admitted that its
website briefly crashed on Saturday
morning after “too many customers”
tried to make a booking.
Meanwhile, web traffic on Caxton
FX’s travel tracker website, which lists
the social distancing requirements,
travel restrictions and quarantine rules
for the most popular holiday destina-
tions, jumped 300 per cent on Saturday.
Some companies said, however, that
while inquiries were increasing there
was still a reluctance among many
people to make a booking until there
was full clarity on the travel rules.
John Bevan, chief executive of Dnata,
which owns brands including Travel-
bag and Travel Republic, said: “We’re
ready to start converting [interest] into
bookings and helping Britons holiday
again. But our ability to do so continues
to be hampered by the Foreign Office’s
blanket advice against all but essential
travel, which it must surely also lift
soon, and a lack of clarity over these
new guidelines.”
The government is expected thisSupport grows for tax rises
over more years of austerity
Matt ChorleyBritain has turned emphatically
against austerity, with more people
demanding tax rises to repair the public
finances a decade after the coalition cut
spending to balance the books.
A YouGov poll for Times Radio
shows a sharp reversal in public support
for cutting back services to deal with
ballooning levels of national
borrowing. Asked how best to reduce
the deficit — the gap between govern-
ment spending and what it raises in tax
— 47 per cent now back tax rises, up
from 30 per cent in December 2009.
Support for tackling the deficit
mainly through spending cuts has
almost halved from 52 per cent to27 per cent. Borrowing this year could
top £300 billion, the Institute for Fiscal
Studies has warned.
Backing for tax rises is higher in
every age group and demographic, in-
cluding 45 per cent of Tory and Leave
voters. Men, Remainers, Labour sup-
porters and people in Scotland are most
likely to be in favour of increased taxes.
In particular there has been a sharp
increase in support for taxes to rise to
fund the NHS, with 63 per cent sup-
porting an increase in the basic rate of
employee national insurance contribu-
tions from 12 per cent to 13 per cent.
In a 2014 YouGov poll this had the
support of 48 per cent of voters.
Only 17 per cent now think that it is
more important that the governmentPatel puts brakes
on dash to book
foreign holidays
Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
week to announce a traffic-light rating
of green, amber and red for 50 coun-
tries depending on the level of corona-
virus in the population. Travel to green
and amber counties will be allowed
without holidaymakers having to quar-
antine at home for 14 days upon their
return. Most European destinations are
expected to be given the green light but
America, Turkey and Portugal may yet
be classed as red.
Portuguese officials reacted angrily
to the possibility that their country
would be blocked, with British tourists
normally accounting for one in every
five visitors. They said that a spike in
cases in the country was “clearly con-
trolled” and there was no scientific jus-
tification to stop visitors. About 70 per
cent of Portugal’s 300 daily cases are
being reported in the capital, Lisbon,
but most British holidaymakers travel
to the Algarve regions in the south.
Professor Henrique Barros, presi-
dent of Portugal’s National Health
Council, said: “The places where tour-
ists tend to walk are the safest in the
country. Tourists are not taking the
overcrowded metro or train at 6am in
the morning to go to work. The risk is
almost negligible.”
Regardless of any relaxation of the
rules on foreign travel, many Britons
are still expected to holiday at home
this summer. Yesterday the Conserva-
tives in Scotland urged Nicola Sturgeon,
the first minister, to lift restrictions on
domestic visitors to avoid the country’s
economy being left behind. They said
that opening Scottish tourism busi-
nesses on July 15 — later than En-
gland’s date of July 4 — was a mistake.
Jackson Carlaw, leader of the Scot-
tish Conservatives, said: “Even by the
most cautious of estimates Scotland’s
tourist industry stands to lose millions
of pounds and hundreds of thousands
of customers. That’s because the SNP
government is refusing to open up the
tourism and hospitality industry in line
with the rest of the UK.”The national picture
JunDaily new lab-confirmed UK casesDaily new UK deathsSource: Gov.UK*Includes tests carried out by commercial partners
which are not included in the country totals. Deaths in
the community included since March 222Cases Deaths
311,
160,
15,
15,
4,43,
39,
2,
1,
549Total UK*
England
Scotland
Wales
N IrelandJun1k221523874231712465324154251 .1k25149261k261862789027100289012836Super-jumbos may never fly again
Lufthansa, the German flag carrier,
has already brought forward the retire-
ment of its five Boeing 747s, while
Dutch airline KLM has confirmed that
its 747s will also be grounded.
Almost all A380s are also grounded.
Chris Tarry, the aviation analyst, has
shown that only 11 flights a week — by
China Southern Airlines — are operat-
ing compared with 2,332 during the
corresponding week last year.
Airbus is ceasing production of the
giant plane in 2021. At least seven air-
lines have gone bust so far and others
are being forced to make sweeping cuts.
Carriers worldwide are expected to
post a loss of $84.3 billion (£67.7 billion)
in 2020, according to the International
Air Transport Association.
Many airlines are ramping up sched-
ules in the expectation that rising num-
bers will travel as countries emerge
from lockdown. Safety measures are
being put in place on aircraft including
compulsory masks, food in packets and
limited access to the lavatory. Airlinesruled out social distancing because
closing seats would make flying unaf-
fordable. However, many carriers are
only using their most economic — and
usually small — jets to keep costs down.
Qatar Airways has revealed that its
fleet of ten A380s will be grounded for
the foreseeable future. Akbar al-Baker,
group chief executive, told The Times:
“Twenty-five per cent of my aeroplanes
will not be flying for the foreseeable
future, including the ten A380s...
because of its size and very high operat-
ing costs. We will only operate A380s
once the business has fully rebounded.”
In a statement, Airbus said: “It is for
airlines to decide how best to use their
A380 fleets as we emerge from the pan-
demic, and Airbus will continue to
support our A380 customers for many
years. Some A380s are being used for
special missions, such as repatriation
flights, but in general the A380 fleet are
parked. Long-haul fleets will again take
to the skies when traffic emerges and
the long-haul market recovers.”Graeme Paton Transport Correspondent
The era of the super-jumbo may be over
as airlines prepare to retire the world’s
biggest aircraft. Analysts said that the
slump in passenger numbers caused by
coronavirus was likely to hasten the
end of the double-decker Boeing 747
and Airbus A380, the vast majority of
which have been grounded for months.
It is claimed that the jets may never
return to service as airlines struggle to
fill the huge, four-engine aircraft, mak-
ing them uneconomical. The A380, the
world’s biggest passenger aircraft, can
carry 800 passengers depending on the
configuration, while the Boeing 747
typically seats more than 400.
British Airways, the world’s biggest
operator of the 747-400, has cancelled
all further training on the aircraft. It has
already said it was due to retire its 30-
strong 747 fleet in 2024. However, it
wrote to pilots recently saying training
on the aircraft had been suspended
pending a review of its entire fleet.
News Coronavirus
P
riti Patel criticised the
behaviour of partygoers
breaking distancing rules
after police broke up mass
gatherings in London
including an unofficial Gay Pride
celebration (Tom Ball writes).
Officers dispersed crowds at four
unlicensed music events in thecapital on Saturday night. Hundreds
also gathered on Clapham Common
for an unofficial Pride event after
organisers of the official march
postponed it.
The home secretary also
reiterated her commitment to
doubling the sentences of those who
assaulted emergency workers. “What
we’ve seen with mass gatherings and
protests is unacceptable. The
violence against our officers is also
unacceptable,” she told Sky News. “I
urge people not to participate in
gatherings of that nature or protests
but I would add that if people do
assault officers, they will feel the full
force of the law.”
Peter Tatchell, who helped to
organise the UK’s first Gay PrideCrowds flout
rules at raves
and unofficial
Pride event