Airlines share earliest dates flights and holidays may start again

The foreign office is currently recommending people don't go abroad "indefinitely" in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. 

But many are hoping lockdown restrictions will be lifted in time to still plan a trip this summer.

While planes remain grounded for the moment, several of the biggest airlines have started giving the exact dates planes may start taking off again.

Of course, as things develop both at home and overseas these dates might change - and that's before we get to the fact most countries currently aren't letting people from Britain in either.

But to offer a glimmer of hope of holidays to come, here's when TUI, Jet2 and Ryanair are starting to accept booking again from:

TUI

Tui has announced that it plans to start flying again on June 17.

But all holidays up to and including May 14, and all Marella Cruise holidays up to and including May 31, will not go ahead.

A spokeswoman from Tui said: "We are constantly monitoring the situation and will start taking people on holiday again as soon as we are able to do so."

Posting an update on Twitter, TUI told customers not to contact them, but to head to their website for the latest information.

"These are uncertain times for all of us and we don't underestimate the impact on those of you with holidays booked," the message read.

"For that reason, we've made the difficult decision to cancel all holidays up to and including May 14.

"Our travel promise still stands, as it's important for us to give you the holidays you deserve.

"This means you can amend all holidays up to June 30 for free, even if you are due to travel between April 17 and May 14."

Jet2

Jet2 said it would not be restarting any flight until June.

A spokseman told Mirror Money: “In view of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have taken the decision to recommence our flights and holidays programme on June 17th.

"We are keeping this decision under constant review, in line with guidance from Governments and the relevant authorities."

“Customers who were due to travel before this date do not need to contact us. We are proactively contacting customers in departure date order to discuss their options, one of which is rebooking their holiday to a later date. We know just how important holidays are to our customers, and how much they give customers something to look forward to, particularly during difficult times such as these.

“We recognise that these unprecedented events have had a huge impact on our customers, and we would like to thank them for their loyalty, understanding and patience.

“Although these are difficult times for everyone, the sun will come out again. When it does, our award-winning teams will be there to take customers on holiday – a well-deserved package holiday they can trust – once again.”

Ryanair

Ryanair has grounded 90 per cent of its flights, but will continue to operate on a limited schedule.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary confirmed a normal schedule of commercial flights won't return until June 17.

Until then, the airline is waiving the change fee for any flights booked up to the end of May, which can be changed to date up until the end of August.

A statement reads: "As most EU countries have imposed flight bans or other restrictions, over 90 per cent of Ryanair's aircraft are grounded for the coming weeks.

"We will comply with these restrictions at all times. We are working with EU  Governments  to try to keep some minimum flight links open for emergency reasons, even though the passenger loads on these flights is very low.

"All the aircraft are disinfected daily. With low loads, social distancing is being optimised on-board. We ask all passengers to cooperate fully with our crews who are doing their best in difficult times to maintain vital links to/from Ireland and to/from the UK to facilitate our passengers and their families to deal with emergencies that may require urgent travel over the coming days and weeks.

"Ryanair apologises sincerely for the unprecedented grounding of our aircraft fleet, and any schedule disruptions this may have caused, but we must all work together with EU Governments to minimise the impact of  Covid-19  on our citizens and our health services."

easyJet

Budget airline easyJet said it has no fixed date to start flying again.

A spokeseman told Mirror Money: "At this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights and we are evaluating continuously based on changing regulations and customer demand.

"We have an ongoing rolling cancellation programme in place and are working through these having taken April off sale.

"Once we have identified a flight for cancellation we will prevent further passengers booking on to it and will inform passengers of the cancellation and their options."

But there was some good news for people who have already booked trips.

"For customers whose flights are not cancelled but would like to move to a later date they can amend their flight online with no change fee and we have brought forward our winter schedule on-sale so customers have more choice to move their flights, up to 28 February 2021," the spokesman added.