There has been no significant increase in air travel since the Government’s “green list” was published.
Just over 13,000 people passed in and out of Dublin Airport last week, which is an increase of 1,000 on the previous week.
This is despite the publication of a list of 15 countries that people can travel to without having to restrict their movements for 14 days on return, including destinations like Greece and Italy.
Eoghan Corry from Air and Travel Magazine says passenger numbers remain low despite companies’ efforts to encourage travel: “Ryanair put on some extra green flights, but it hasn’t made a huge amount of difference.”
Travel remains down 88 per cent when compared with the same period last year.
The green list published this week effectively means that Ireland is closed for business, and this will have profoundly negative impacts on the Irish economy, and on the aviation and tourism sector jobs within them
It comes as the Dáil’s Covid-19 committee was warned yesterday that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk in the aviation sector.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus described the “green list” as a signal that Ireland remains closed for business.
Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle criticised the Government's approach: “Ireland has not acted upon the European Commission’s request to member states to lift border restrictions within the EU by the 15th of June.
“The green list published this week effectively means that Ireland is closed for business, and this will have profoundly negative impacts on the Irish economy, and on the aviation and tourism sector jobs within them.”
Image by Jakub Petrymusz from Pixabay
