By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Shares in UK listed travel & leisure and stocks continued to come under selling pressure on Friday after the UK government failed to add any new countries to their ‘green’ list, while also removing Portugal following an uptick in coronavirus cases.
Passengers returning from countries on the ‘green’ list do not have to quarantine upon return, however, there are restrictions on passengers returning from ‘amber’ or ‘red’ countries and the government recommends that people do not travel to these destinations.
“The travel sector continued to see aftershocks from yesterday’s earthquake decision to remove Portugal from the green list of travel destinations from the UK,” said AJ Bell financial analyst Danni Hewson. “Hopes of anything approaching a normal summer for the industry now look pretty much over.”
The news has been met with disdain by some of the airlines. EasyJet's (LON:EZJ) CEO Johan Lundgren called the decision a “huge blow”.
“The government has torn up its own rule book and ignored the science, throwing peoples’ plans into chaos, with virtually no notice or alternative options for travel from the UK,” Lundgren said.
The boss of Ryanair was slightly more optimistic, saying he expects unrestricted travel between the UK and Europe in July and August.
“When people are travelling in July and August there will be no restrictions on travel to and from, between, the UK and Europe, because of the success of vaccines and the fact that the vaccines are effective against this variant,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told the BBC.
Nevertheless, the delay to international travel and removal of countries from the ‘green’ list will no doubt play on the mind of travellers when they consider booking overseas holidays.
Shares in other airlines also came under pressure with British Airways parent IAG (LON:ICAG), Tui (LON:TUIT), Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ), Jet2 (LON:JET2) and jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) all nursing losses.
Looking further afield, airlines based in Europe were faring somewhat better. Shares in German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) were broadly flat while Air France KLM (PA:AIRF) was lower by around 0.8%.