EasyJet flights to resume in UK and France from June but strict coronavirus rules will apply to crew and passengers

EASYJET will resume a small number of flights in the UK and France next month with crew and passengers to wear masks.

The airline will restart the mainly domestic flights from 22 European airports from June 15.

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EasyJet said it is "introducing new measures to help ensure safety and wellbeing, including enhanced aircraft cleaning and disinfection and requirement for passengers and crew to wear masks".

They will serve a number of UK airports including Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast.

In addition, flying will resume in France from Nice, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon and Lille, as well as from Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.

New safety measures:

• Enhanced aircraft disinfection for easyJet aircraft
• Customers, cabin and ground crew will be required to wear masks
• There will also initially be no food service onboard flights

The airline had grounded their entire fleet at the end of March due to the pandemic.

Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said he was pleased to start taking the "small and carefully planned steps" to get the fleet back into the air.

He added: "We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that when more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want to fly.

"The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew remains our highest priority which is why we are implementing a number of measures enhancing safety at each part of the journey from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks."

He said that the new measures would remain in place for "as long as needed".

The airline has also already launched plans for summer holiday breaks in 2021.

However, the UK still warns against all but essential travel abroad and until this changes, Brits are advised not to book a holiday any time soon.

Not only that, but other countries are also yet to reopen their borders to British tourists.

Spain hopes to welcome international visitors by the of June, while Italy is looking at welcoming tourists by June 3 -  but this is unlikely to include British holidaymakers.

Other airlines are hoping to restart flights by the summer as well - British Airways said they would be resuming a limited schedule by July, although this may be hindered by the UK's 14-day quarantine policy being implemented in June.

Ryanair are to resume 40 per cent of flights from July 1.

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Holidays to Greece and Portugal look most optimistic for the summer, with both countries offering to exempt Brits from the two week quarantine.

Greece are allowing overseas tourists to return in the upcoming weeks, while Portugal are offering an "air bridge" between the country and the UK.

But unless the government change the official travel advice, heading abroad means little protection if anything goes wrong.