First 2021 package holidays depart

The first flights taking Britons on package holidays to Europe this summer have taken off.

It follows the government’s announcement earlier this month of the removal of the ban on international leisure travel from May 17.

Travel Weekly is on board Tui’s 6:30am departure from Gatwick to Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira to report on the resumption from the green list destination.

The operator is also flying from Gatwick to Porto Santo, Madeira, and to Funchal from Birmingham and Manchester airports.

As well as holidays to Portugal, which is on the government’s green list of 12 destinations, Tui is offering packages this week to amber destinations which the Foreign Office does not advice against non-essential travel to.

There is a departure to the Greek island of Corfu from Gatwick this morning, and services to Corfu, as well as Tenerife and Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, from Manchester.

Because these destinations are on the amber list, holidaymakers are required to self-isolate at home on return to the UK.

More: Tui and easyJet holidays stick to May 17 restart plans

Holidaymakers ‘still want to travel to amber destinations’

Andrew Flintham, managing director of Tui UK, said: “We’re delighted to welcome our customers back on board. There’s been an unbelievable amount of hard work behind the scenes to resume our operations and we’re just delighted that we navigated all the twists and turns to make sure everyone can go on the holidays they’ve been looking forward to and deserve.

“We’re proud that because we own every element of the holiday journey we’re uniquely placed to respond to demand by adding additional flights and hotels to the most popular hotspots, and can help our customers every step of the way. Also, by introducing easy and affordable subsidised testing packages, at just £20 for green list destinations, we’ve made travelling overseas a reality for many of our customers.

“We’re looking forward to more of our most popular destinations joining the green list, so our customers can get on a well-deserved getaway this summer.”

Other tour operators also resumed departures this morning.

EasyJet holidays has holidays departing this week to the Algarve, Madeira and Portuguese capital Lisbon, as well as to some of the Greek islands where FCDO advice allows.

Olympic Holidays has May 17 departures to Portugal, some Greek islands, Lanzarote in the Canaries and Malta, which is also exempt from the FCDO advice against non-essential travel.

The UK’s second largest Atol holder, Jet2holidays, is not due to resume operations until June 24.