Travel news latest: Australia-UK flights ‘by November’, says industry chief

The Australian state of Victoria has reported its biggest single-day rise in Covid cases this year – the majority in Melbourne – as most other regions in the state exited lockdown today.

The shift to a strategy of living with, rather than suppressing, the virus after hitting national vaccine coverage of 70-80 per cent is part of a four-stage national reopening plan unveiled by the federal government in July. The national vaccination rate for adults is currently at around 40 per cent.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, whose state today reported 334 new locally acquired cases and one death, has said lockdown restrictions in Melbourne will not be eased until 70 per cent of the adult population has received at least one vaccine dose, which is expected around September 23.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said despite there being no current, “rapid” evolution of new coronavirus variants, the UK had a “moral” obligation to help vaccinate other countries around the world.

“We’re not seeing the rapid evolution of new variants that are threatening the world today but that may well happen in the future and it’s as likely to emerge in vaccinated populations as unvaccinated populations,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

“They key thing for vaccinating people in other countries is because they need to be protected.

“There is such a big risk, morally from our perspective, there’s a risk to trade, there’s a risk to economies, but also these are our friends and colleagues who need to be protected and we are losing them every day that goes by.”

EasyJet is on the brink of a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to grow, its chief executive Johan Lundgren said on Thursday, as the budget airline rejected a takeover approach from rival Wizz Air. It has pledged to go it alone with a new £1.2bn war chest raised from shareholders. 

Sadly for him, competitors feel the same way as the industry reshapes post-pandemic. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s famously feisty boss, spoke in July of the company facing the “greatest growth opportunity” since its founding in 1984.

In a sign of the opportunity at hand, Wizz Air’s board earlier placed a possible £100m bonus within reach of boss Jozsef Varadi if he can more than double the share price over the next five years. 

The pandemic has largely been a horror story for the aviation industry. With passengers forced to stay at home and borders closed, revenue has dried up and many bosses have been forced to go cap in hand to banks, shareholders and Governments. 

Richard Millard has more.

Following on from the below, several of the airlines tested by Which? have responded to allegations.

An easyJet spokesman said:

We continually review the information we equip our agents with and provide them with ongoing and extensive training, and so we continue with this to ensure that agents are providing accurate and consistent advice to customers.

Ryanair was, as it often is, more blunt, stating:

All Covid-19 travel requirements are fully set out on Ryanair’s website, and are emailed to all passengers 24 hours prior to travel. We do not expect our call centre agents to be experts on the multiple Covid travel restrictions, which apply across 40 different countries.

Airlines are giving out incorrect information on Covid testing requirements that could see passengers turned away from flights, a consumer group has warned.

Which? said a mystery shopping exercise found most agents for British Airways (BA), easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and Tui that they spoke with were unable to provide clear, consistent or accurate answers.

In nearly half of the calls, Which? said that the passenger would have been turned away from their flight if they had followed the information provided by the agent. If a traveller does not meet the entry requirements and cannot board their flight, they have no recourse to a refund.

The UK and devolved governments set the rules on testing for people’s return to the UK, while foreign governments determine the rules for UK passenger arrivals. However, the airlines leave it to ground staff to enforce the rules.

Charles Hymas has the story.

Before we begin, here’s a reminder of yesterday’s top headlines:

• Covid risk on flights ‘less than 0.1%’, real-world data reveals
• Scrap testing for double vaccinated travellers, urges former transport secretary
• EasyJet rejects takeover bid
• DfT working to reduce the cost of Covid tests, MPs told
• UK arrivals have paid more than £1bn for Covid tests
• Christmas booking for UK holiday rentals up 480pc on last year

Now, on with Friday’s news.