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Travel to amber list countries is “absolutely legal”, EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren has said, after the government advised people not to go to those countries on holiday.
Mr Lundgren said the government stance was “very confusing” and frustrating for passengers, and testing was costly.
The legal ban on foreign holidays ended on Monday.
But on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should not holiday in amber list countries.
The government has brought in a traffic light system of rules for international travel, with people returning from green list countries not having to quarantine.
But travellers returning from amber list countries, which may have entry restrictions, must self isolate for 10 days when they return.
Coronavirus restrictions on travel have hit the aviation sector very hard over the course of the pandemic.
On Thursday, EasyJet reported that losses for the six months to 31 March had widened to £645m from £353m a year earlier.
Mr Lundgren told the BBC this was “clearly a significant loss, and it’s really down to the travel restrictions we’ve seen across Europe”.
The budget airline boss called for an extension of the green list to include more European countries.
He added the whole point of the traffic light system was to allow travel to restart again safely, and that it was “absolutely legal to travel to amber list countries”.
He said: “There was no indication they [passengers] shouldn’t travel to these countries, because that’s what the restriction was supposed to do – it was there to make sure you could do this in a safe way.
“We have a huge amount of people that are contacting us to say: ‘Look, can I go? Can’t I go?’ – So it’s been very confusing, and the government is almost dismantling the system that it set up themselves,” he added.
According to Johan Lundgren, by discouraging leisure travel to amber list countries, the government is undermining its own policy.
As he pointed out, going to an amber list country is not illegal – even for a holiday. But the government says you shouldn’t do it. Passengers, he says, are confused.
The whole idea of having a traffic light system, he suggested, was to have different levels of restrictions for different risks.
The underlying message: why bother having a graded system if you’d rather people didn’t travel at all?
While an airline chief executive calling for travel restrictions to be eased is hardly a shock, his comments on the amber list will add to the pressure the government is under, over what critics claim is an incoherent or contradictory approach.
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Mr Lundgren also called for VAT to be removed from the cost of Covid testing when holidaymakers return to the UK.
He said the numerous costs and testing was making people who want to go on holiday or reunite with families “extremely frustrated”.
He added the airline had agreed a £60 price for the required PCR tests, but pointed to comments from the European Parliament which has called for free testing for all, including PCR tests.
On Tuesday, Boris Johnson said people should not be holidaying in amber list countries, after Environment Secretary George Eustice said people could go and visit friends.
Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s very important for people to grasp what an amber list country is: it is not somewhere where you should be going on holiday, let me be very clear about that.
“And if people do go to an amber list country, they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason, then please bear in mind that you will have to self-isolate, you’ll have to take tests and do your passenger locator form and all the rest of it.”
