Former British Prime Minister Theresa May urged the government this morning to rethink their travel roadmap with no foreign travel until at least May 17 leaving the travel industry with a mountain to climb.
May said that the government should speed-up the easing of the lockdown and allow foreign holidays sooner rather than later.
Aviation consultant John Strickland said the timeline was negative for airlines, given certainty on travel was months away at a time when bookings would usually be flooding in.
"We're already two months into the year so we've lost two months already. On this news we're going to lose another two months," he said.
"A number of airlines are already projecting that at least the first half of summer is pretty well written off and projecting at best there might be some resurgence of traffic in the late summer."
The trade body for Britain's airports also said the May 17 date was a blow.
"As the worst-hit economic sector in 2020, this will ensure we will also be the worst-hit sector of 2021," Airport Operators Association Chief Executive Karen Dee said.