Foreign holiday season likely to be cancelled, says minister
Many British people are unlikely to be able to take foreign holidays this summer because of coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
He told ITV's This Morning it's "likely to be the case" there won't be a normal summer holiday season.
The government is opening up parts of the economy, and Ryanair is planning to start services in July.
But Mr Hancock said the traditional big-break holiday season is unlikely.
Social distancing will have to be maintained for some time, he said. "The conclusion from that is it is unlikely that big, lavish international holidays are going to be possible for this summer."
Mr Hancock's comments came as many airlines detailed plans to restart flights.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, who last month said that leaving the middle seat free to help social distancing was "idiotic", said he planned to sell as many seats as possible this summer.
The airline is planning to operate nearly 1,000 flights a day from July, up from 30 today. It said face coverings being worn by all crew and passengers and cashless on-board transactions would help keep passengers safe as well as a new system for toilet breaks.
Passengers will have to ask crew to use the toilet to stop queues forming.
Meanwhile, EasyJet has told the BBC that it does not have a date for restarting flights, but is keeping the situation under review.