Tui and Jet2 announce Canaries returns

Tui’s UK and Ireland managing director Andrew Flintham said its first flights would resume on Saturday (24 October) departing to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote "with many more added in the coming days".

Jet2 will resume flights to Tenerife (30 October) as well as Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (from 1 November) from all nine of its UK bases – Belfast, Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and London Stansted.

Flintham said: "The reintroduction of the Canary Islands is a positive step forward for our business and all our customers who wish to enjoy a well-deserved break overseas this half-term and during the winter months.

"We haven’t been able to take people on a Tui holiday to the Canary Islands for 89 days, when the sudden quarantine and subsequent travel advice was imposed with little notice.

"We urge the government to continue to work closely with the industry on airport testing so we can open up more destinations in the coming weeks. We must move away, where possible, from the anxiety our industry faces waiting for the new list of places people can travel to each week. This level of uncertainty is damaging for business and all those employed in our industry."

Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said: “We welcome today’s announcement and we know that our customers, who want to get flying again, will do so too. For some time we have been calling for a proportionate, evidence-based approach to safe travel and this is very much a step in the right direction. There is much to do still, and we look forward to working with government to achieve that.

“The Canary Islands are hugely important, for us and independent travel agents as businesses, and for our customers as a much-loved holiday favourite too. We know how much our customers want to get away for some winter sun in the Canaries, and they can do this again from 30 October onwards.

“As the UK’s leading operator to the Canary Islands, we will be restarting with a programme that means independent travel agents can offer customers unrivalled choice and flexibility, as well as all the award-winning benefits that they know and love.”