- ON A WING AND A PRAYER
- UK PM Boris Johnson to make important announcement concerning holidays
By Andrew Atkinson
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to make an important announcement concerning holidays this year, amid the ongoing coronavirus situation that has left countries including Spain on their knees.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, said PM Johnson will be making a major announcement on February 22, giving details of the ‘roadmap’ to ease restrictions.
Currently non-residents are not allowed to board flights to Spain, leaving thousands of British tourists in no-mans land, due to COVID-19 concerns over spreading the coronavirus.
Those ‘stranded’ in the UK include thousands of home owners in Spain who are desperate to return, with multiple holidays bookings cancelled during the latest stage of the coronavirus situation.
Mixed messages have been forthcoming from the British government over holidays this summer, as the travel industry hopefully awaits that the ban on foreign travel will be lifted.
The UK travel industry has said that they want to start operating their summer programmes from May 1.
Scottish holidaymakers could be left at home this summer, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying that foreign holidays are unlikely.
Concerns about the multi-million euros Corvera airport, that replaced San Javier airport, have been aired during the coronavirus lockdown, including mooted closure which has been ‘rubbished’.
Alicante-Elche airport returned low figures of the confinement stage, with under 100,000 passengers in January.
The airport terminal flights in February saw days when a paltry six flights, including to Madrid, Palma and Amsterdam took place.
Alicante-Elche airport lowest footfall months’ of confinement during April-May 2020 saw under 7,000 passengers.
Almost all services at the airport have been closed, due to COVID-19 restrictions, imposed in a bid to control the ongoing pandemic, which has led to the temporary or permanent unemployment (ERTE) of 2,000 employees of the companies trading there.
Only the Pharmacy, and a cafeteria are open, considered ‘essential services’.
820,000 tourists passed through Alicante-Elche airport in January 2020.
AENA are hoping for what is deemed a ‘traffic explosion’ next summer, with advanced bookings, as was the case in July and August 2020 – without vaccines.
900,000 passengers went through the terminal, representing a recovery of almost 50%.
Ryanair is scheduled to start a new route between Alicante and Vitoria in June 2021. Alicante-Elche airport figures slumped by 11 million passengers in 2020.
