Ryanair has condemned An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s statement advising Irish citizens “not to book flights home for Christmas yet”, which came less than a week after the EU’s ‘traffic light system’ was adopted by the Irish Government.
Ryanair called on the Tánaiste to confirm his support for the EU traffic light system, which allows Irish people to return home for Christmas with a negative Covid-19 test, three days prior to arrival, and similarly allows EU citizens living in Ireland to travel to their home countries during the Christmas season with a negative Covid-19 test result.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “The EU traffic light system designed by the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Control) gives people the certainty they need to book flights. It allows Irish citizens to travel home for Christmas with a negative test result, and similarly allows EU citizens to also fly home for the Christmas season. Aviation is a critical part of national infrastructure and the Tánaiste, who is responsible for job creation, should be supporting the traffic light system instead of undermining it.”
UK Domestic Flights for Students
Meanwhile, Ryanair has announced additional UK domestic flights from 4th December following a government announcement permitting students to travel home for Christmas. The student ‘travel window’ states that universities should revert to online teaching to allow students to travel home between 3rd-9th December.
In response, Ryanair has announced a new Edinburgh-London Stansted route operating twice weekly until 8th January 8th. Three other UK domestic routes that will allow students travel home ahead of the busy Christmas season are Belfast-London Stansted, Derry-Edinburgh, and Derry-Liverpool.
