They have already announced that they will be flying passengers back home as planned. It's just the outbound flights that will be empty.

Thats great for the people already out there, and fantastic that TUI are doing it !

Why is is particularly worth reading?

He was obviously unfortunate to get so ill. The overwhelming majority of healthy people under the age of 75 will suffer mild illness at worst. The fact that his story was covered at all is evidence of how unusual it is.

His experience illustrates how unpredictable the virus is. It ought to serve as a warning to those who are dismissive of such things happening to younger folk.

The poor chap in question was unfortunate enough to suffer severe complications as a result of Covid-19 and required support in the ITU and needed ECMO.

The point that Gurnard made, and that you are so dismissive of guy_incognito is that this can happen to anyone and if the virus spreads out of control it will overload our already stretched NHS in the UK. Do you know how many ECMO beds there are in the UK? I suggest you research it, it might change your blasé opinion of what is a major health emergency.

Thanks Fostex. Covid-19 can attack perfectly healthy people and leave them with unexpected after-effects which remain. Can't we have just a bit of sympathy for those affected in such unpleasant ways? It could be any of us or any close family member. Without becoming paranoid about the virus, that's what we need to weigh up.

A long term problem for those who experience the virus very strongly is that - thereafter - they have 'underlying conditions'. Which means that the next regular flu or any 'normal' illness that they contract, could be very much more serious than it would otherwise have been.

This long term burden on the populace and the health service and the country is unknown - but will be counted over the next years. Yes, most who get it make a full recovery but others do not and may find themselves unable to work due to their new health condition.

According to 'Our World in Data', the UK 7 day rolling average of confirmed cases is down to 9.74 cases per 100k, meaning that in the world ranking the UK has fallen to 94th of all countries impacted.

It's no more than the airline is contractually bound to do. Most, if not all, of their passengers will be on package holidays - the carrier can't just abandon them there.

Ryanair are taking the Irish government to court over their safe country list. The list, announced on July 22, contains just 15 countries and does not include the UK, Germany, France or Spain, all of which are major destinations on Ryanair’s network.

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/

That compulsory 14-day self-isolation for all visitors arriving in Eire is presenting a major issue for me. I'm due to travel to Kerry with RYR, but obviously cannot proceed with this on the basis of compulsory quarantine imposed upon arrival. A banner on Ryanair's website indicates that they will allow alteration of travel dates free of charge ("no flight change fee") if a customer is unable to travel on the original booked dates. But this offer seems to exclude those who booked early, as I did. When I attempt to alter my travel dates, a change fee of £60 appears (£30 each way). It makes no sense to pay this - a sum not dissimilar to the original fare - to transfer my booking to new dates which could conceivably fall foul of the same quarantine edict in turn.

I hope that Ryanair will see fit to allow ALL booked passengers to alter their travel dates without an admin fee on routes affected by a draconian restriction of this sort. It is quite impossible for most of us to travel on these terms.

As a frequent RYR customer - typically 30 to 40 sectors per year - I acknowledge that Ryanair are within their legal rights to impose a change fee. But if they do so under these circumstances, they lose the trust of customers affected. I'm not daft enough to stamp my feet and exclaim that I would never fly with Ryanair again ... of course I will. But a whiff of injustice stings, and on routes where alternatives exist, trust can swing a future booking decision. I've got the same quarantine issue with a booked EasyJet trip ... but they allow me to change the travel dates without a fee. I'll remember that. If one company helps you out of a hole and the other turns its back, who are you going to trust next time around?

No early advance booking customer could be expected to plan for a government ruling of this sort. Penalising them for it is unreasonable.

I would think most people in GB would not know of quarantine requirements from the U.K. and would not even check seeing that Ireland was the only country to be excluded when the U.K. had a blanket quarantine requirement.

I do find this a bit of a joke and certainly underreported considering the relationship the two countries have. GFA?

No. Common travel area that predates EU.

The quarantine requirements set to try and prevent going over without a valid reason i.e for a pub visit etc.

Colleague who went over for work via ferry, checked by drug squad who sent a dog into car, no alcohol or drugs issues. He asked about quarantine, this in May but they indicated, "we not policing that we drugs squad but you here for work so assumme you know WTF you doing" and let him leave.

Many friends with family there and they pretty much state that family ask not to visit until safe, which they doing.

Aside from last couple of days where a localised test brought 80 cases the cases and more importantly deaths have been small for a month or so.

Difficult to stop people coming in and not self quarantining, seems in some popular tourist spots beloved by US visitors, they found themselves unwelcome unless they could prove in Ireland for 2+ weeks. May not do the Trip advisor ratings any good but seems owners figured least of their worries.

Beginning to think that the UK Govts might decide to put Belgium on the naughty step soon... and require anyone travelling from Belgium to the UK to go into 14 days of home quarantine

14 days or 10 days or starting it from midnight on the 25th or 26 th will make zero difference ..most people,will not bother with it..
they may do a day or two then think sod this I’m going to the pub, or that party. It’s unenforceable ..
you can be ambivalent about It like me any many others. Or you can be cross. But either way that’s what is happening

Unfortunately you are correct.

BJ's Govt have ignored the rules and nobody did anything, contrast it with other countrys where people have resigned. Cummings did what he wanted and as nothing happened to him then many people said well sod that for a game of soldiers.

Looking at recent figures for Portugal, bucking the trend across most of Europe, their figures are trending downwards, begging the question why HMG isn't allowing quarantine free travel from Portugal. If they are looking for targets to reimpose quarantine the government need look for further than Belgium and The Netherlands, but both appear to be off the media radar, they'd rather focus on a (non existent) spike in cases in Germany, whereas in reality, though their figures are increasing, the rate of daily tick up isn't that much greater than the UK, and per capita still very much below that of the UK.lower.

Like a number of things related to UK Covid-19 policy, there appears to be very little logic in decision making.

The Govt needs to be very careful to avoid rapid U turns... if a country goes from the naughty list to the OK-to-visit list, it has to remain as such for a prolonged period of time.... or the press and opposition will roast Boris alive. Oh and people who've booked holidays which are then cancelled won't be happy - forgiveable once for Spain but should not be repeated. Equally a country that is currently permitted will have to let its Covid case frequency get quite bad before travel authority is revoked for Brits. Effectively, politics means we have a system that is generally slow to respond, but at least allows people to plan ahead to some degree

If the lead time between booking a holiday and getting on a plane was typically just a day or two, Govt could afford to change its mind quickly... but lead times are longer

I suspect Portugal or any country on the forbidden category will have to get its case frequency really much lower than the UK before the FCO gives approval

At Notts, the Portuguese new case rate is falling, but is still more per head than the UK, but I expect in a week or so there will be a review of the corridor. You then seem to conflate media reporting with Government decision making, the 2 are separate.
Since the corridor to Spain was shut, the Government has also has imposed quarantine on those returning from Luxembourg. So it appears that the decision makers are monitoring the small countries as well. I expect Belgium to be soon, maybe the Netherlands as well.

Not intentionally, I'm sure that HMG will pay more attention to the real data than the media, it was more an observation. It is more than a little curious that so far as the media is concerned the only people that travel are "holidaymakers", with little attention paid to the wealth creators and employers who's endeavours are also impacted, probably to a greater extent, from government quarantine and travel warnings.

A report on the BBC about Ryanair refusing to cancel flights from Cardiff Airport at the request of the Welsh Government, as it breach their lockdown restrictions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-53637418

Govt own airport, won't shut it down because it doesn't suit them but demand everybody follow what they say.

Number of cases in the last 14 days per 100,000 people in the UK has been rising recently. The numbers are still low compared to Belgium or Spain, but I'm wondering if the three Baltic countries are about to re-impose a requirement that people travelling from the UK go into 14 days of quarantine on arrival... might be announced either this week or next week

I know traffic between the UK and the Baltics is rather less than UK-Spain, but still not great thing to happen

A few snippets of quarantine changes from around Europe. (credit schengenvisainfo)
Lithuania - Quarantine for arrivals from France
Norway - Quarantine arrivals from Belgium
Switzerland - Quarantine arrivals from Spain (except Canary & Balearic islands)
Denmark- Portugal now exempt from quarantine.

As mentioned by 2Planks the rate in Portugal is falling a new other countries around Europe have recognised this and have relaxed their quarantine rules.

To take the thread back to its core question, Eastern Airways launching a daily route into Heathrow has to be the poster child for impact on air travel. Peak 2020.

News reports that Belgium is to be added to the 14 day quarantine list for all people entering the UK

dg6, now formalised by FCO, self isolation now required on returning from Belgium to UK.

Reported cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days has been creeping up this week.

Greece is being a little more cautious in its welcome to tourists compared to Spain, giving conditional entry to Brits with the right to decide whether Brits need a virus check or other meaaures at the arrival airport

I'm wondering at what point Greece will decide to be a little more active in the default way they handle Brits and other residents of northern Europe on arrival in Greece

Looking at the ECDC website the UK Gov't seem to use a factor of about 40 cases per 100k for quarantine to kick-in. Certainly Spain & Belgium fall into that category (there are no figures for Andorra or non-European countries). Spain currently is 89 (Canary Islands 7.3 just to show the injustice of it all) & Belgium 55, Greece has nearly doubled to 10.6 in a week, whereas Italy is fairly stable at 6.9.
Portugal is gradually decreasing and may be a candidate for being put on the exemption list. A bit late for their summer season unfortunately.

Tourism named as partly playing a role & a factor in a "2nd wave" in Greece.

More European countries are entering the frame for UK Quarantine measures to be imposed on arriving passengers.

Conversely Cyprus being reinstated by EXS from 17/18th Aug with Larnaca & Paphos.

I have to give full marks to Qatar Airways for the way they are trying to stimulate growth by adding extra flights to various destinations around the world almost on a daily basis. It would surprise me if all these new flights are making money initially. They are just about the only full service carrier trying to kick start their network. Others who have gone down this route are mostly LCC like Wizz, Ryanair & EasyJet.

Qatar are certainly listing these flights but how many are actually operating? They've been advertising 3/wk from Edinburgh but only 1/2 have flown each week.

And unlike the LCCs that were mentioned, Qatar doesn't have to worry where the next tranche of cash is coming from, being essentially a state vanity project (willy waving if you prefer). The LCCs are operating only where they can turn a profit.

In deciding whether to book a short haul flight from the UK, two things beyond price/schedule are making me reluctant
1 - number of Covid cases in a region... so Romania and Catalonia are out, but much of Europe seems ok
2 - whether I would be subject to quarantine or other rules either on arrival at the destination or on return to the UK that would make a brief trip very difficult

In particular, if I book a flight for September, i am left thinking I could spend money on tickets, quarantine gets introduced or there is a very high level of Covid cases by departure time, either of which mean I wouldn't want to fly, but the airline still decides to operate the flight and keep my cash. The conclusion is I decide not to buy a ticket at all

I'm wondering if airlines should change the terms to boost confidence in air travel - if quarantine appears then flight gets cancelled and pax gets refund. That way pax would believe that money would buy not only a ticket, but a *usable* ticket. Of course no airline wants to issue refunds if it still has an obligation to operate the flight for a small number of pax

Can this be done and is it compatible with EU261 ?

I know this covers what insurers call 'disinclination to travel' but this is something which is easily observable by a neutral 3rd party. Furthermore, if nobody has confidence that spending money on a ticket is worthwhile - it eventually causes the industry to collapse

The biggest problem here is that you apply an assumption based on your circumstances. Not everyone will sacrifice their holiday for the sake of the 2 week quarantine when they're already having to work from home.

So maybe airline has an ancillary product 'pay £x extra and you can get a refund if there is a quarantine requirement'. Presumably some insurer will see a profit in such a product...

In the scheme of things, just how important is a holiday? It looks as though 9.6m people have been having a 4 month "holiday" at government expense already. It isn't just working from home, it's returning and not being able to go shopping, not being able to entertain the kids in what is still the school holidays, with trips out, and worse, later this month the kids not being able to return to schools when they open, because they're in quarantine - assuming of course that people are actually bothering to adhere to a quarantine law that the government itself appears unwilling / unable to enforce.

A greater, and much more consequential effect of the quarantine on air travel and the economy is the virtual collapse of business travel - the media however is focused 100% on holidaymakers!

ATNotts - Working from home isn’t a “holiday”, and if it is a holiday for anyone sooner or later they’ll find it’s not a sustainable one. If it were a holiday then companies - where roles allow it - would not be promoting it being done permanently.

With regards to furlough perhaps also some sensitivity and empathy wouldn’t go amiss - those I know in that position very much want to be working and have no choice in being furloughed. I’d respectfully suggest that’s also not been a “holiday”, while I’m sure the first two or three weeks were fine perhaps you try going weeks with no real purpose....

I've been furloughed and would much rather be working in an industry where I would be working full time. Ive never taken a government handout in my life and it doesn't sit easy with me in the slightest even though I've paid hundreds of thousands in taxes over the years.

And I've not once considered it a 'holiday'.

How important is a holiday? Well by the same measure how important is going to the pub? Eating out? Going to sit on Bournemouth beach? Going to the cinema? Where do you stop? Just shut down everything and turn the lights off on your way out......