LONDON - Britain's 'air bridges' plan is set to involve less than ten countries, giving tourists the ability to travel between them and the UK this summer with no mandatory 14-day quarantine.
A total of 12 countries - including Greece, Spain, Portugal and France - are being considered with officials examining both the risk of travellers bringing Covid-19 back and the popularity of the destination.
At the moment, any traveller arriving in the UK - whether from Britain or a tourist - must quarantine for 14 days and provide their phone number and an address for self-isolation.
The 'air bridge' rules would come into play on July 4 and will likely be announced on June 29. But it will only go ahead if the chief medical officer provides advice on each nation and the Foreign Office lifts its non-essential travel ban to the countries in question.
An aviation source told The Daily Telegraph: 'It is work in progress – risk first, and how you measure that risk, followed by the popularity of the destination.'
Travel company Tui has told its customers that it will only fly them to countries that have air bridges in place.
The company has pledged to provide 'quarantine-free holidays' to all its customers, meaning they don't have to isolate on landing or upon arriving back home in Britain.
But this could spell disaster for holidays that are already booked should the air bridge measures not be established in time, The Sun reports.
A second plan, which could reduce the need for quarantine and kick-start the travel sector post-lockdown, is the possibility of coronavirus tests for arrivals in UK airports, The Times reports.(FA)