When you can fly from Birmingham airport again- and where you can travel to

However, lockdown restrictions are gradually easing and government officials are hopeful that holidays abroad will be able to resume in the coming months.

Paul Knapper, manager of the Deansgate travel agency, Spires Travel, said it has been a confusing few months for the industry- but added that customers could still book with confidence with them.

Paul Knapper

He said: “It’s been a bit of a nightmare both for us and customers.

“We’ve had months of cancelled holidays and mixed messages in regards to travel advice- hopefully we will be able to get some clarification in the next week or so.

“The whole of the travel industry is as much in the dark as everybody else- we find out when the MPs make their announcement.”

He added that customers have regularly contacted the branch for advice- but they don’t have all of the information they ask for.

However, customers have still been making booking with them, hopeful that their destination will be on the green list when they travel.

Paul added: “We have taken a few bookings for later in the month- most of them have been for later in the year.”

“All of the tour operators we deal with all have flexible booking policies at the moment- this means if we do book something for a customer in the next few months, they will have the option to change dates or get a refund.”

He said Malta, Croatia and Greece have been their most popular destinations to book in the coming months as they might be on the green list.

Paul explained: “We don’t really see booking as a risk or a gamble- ones that have booked package holidays for June and July- they’re not really taking a risk.

“They’re getting a holiday booked, paying for it and if they can’t travel they will have the option of a refund or date change.”

When can we go on foreign holidays again?

Overseas holidays are able to resume from May 17- but a traffic light system will be introduced to determine if holidaymakers will have to quarantine on return to the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there will be some “opening up” of some foreign travel.

Speaking on Monday (3 May), the Prime Minister said "we'll be saying more as soon as we can" but "we have got to be very, very tough".

Countries will be given a green, amber or red light  under the UK Government's system.

Only countries on green list will be open for quarantine-free travel. There will also be a ‘green watch list’ which will show which countries will soon be removed from the list.

Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

Which countries are on the green list?

Today (7 May), holidaymakers will finally discover which destinations they can visit this summer without quarantining, with Portugal, Iceland, Israel and Malta among those expected to be on the travel green list.

Summer favourites such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece are expected to be on the amber list initially.

They could switch to green when the situation is reviewed at a “checkpoint” on June 28.

Will I need a Covid passport?

Destinations are likely to require holidaymakers to show evidence they have received a coronavirus vaccine or taken a recent negative test.

Grant Shapps has confirmed that people in England will be able to display their status using the NHS app, but there are doubts over whether it will be ready for May 17.

Which flights are taking off from Birmingham airport?

This airport flies to more than 83 destinations across the world.

Birmingham Airport has remained open throughout the pandemic supporting passengers needing air travel and airlines that needed to carry out aircraft maintenance checks, emergency flights and cargo.

A spokesperson for the airport said: “Currently we are operating flights to Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast, Bucharest and Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Inverness, Istanbul and Paris for those who have a permitted and legal reason to travel.”

Birmingham Airport will be welcoming back additional airlines from the 17th May when they “hope that the government allows restrictions on international travel to be lifted”.

A spokesperson for the company said: “EasyJet has confirmed it will resume flights from the 17th May as will TUI. 

“Jet2 will resume holiday flights from the 23rd June. 

“Airlines are updating routes and frequencies all the time and many of our airlines have a large selection of holidays on sale for summer 2021.”

Which flights can I book from 17 March?

Here are some Birmingham Airport flights currently scheduled to take off on March 17.

These include areas that are expected to be on the green list and the amber list: