Companies reliant on international travel see shares take off ahead of rules shake up

Companies reliant on international travel saw their shares take off this morning ahead of a travel rules shake up, which is set to include the end of costly Covid-19 tests.

British Airways owner IAG and the UK´s biggest tour operator TUI were among the biggest risers on the FTSE 100, climbing 4 per cent in early trade.

Meanwhile, Rolls Royce saw a lift of 2.3 per cent as a change in rules would bode better for its core business of making and servicing engines for long-haul aircraft.

Companies reliant on international travel saw their shares take off this morning ahead of travel rules shake up, which is set to include the end of costly tests

The company is in desperate need of a lift, as it revealed it will need passenger traffic to climb to at least 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in order to meet its longer term targets and keep cashflow in the black.

Other climbers Friday morning included Ryanair, which was up more than 2 per cent, while Wizz Air experienced smaller gains. 

One airline bucking the trend was easyJet as the budget airline saw its shares fall by another 1 per cent after it announced another round of fundraising. 

The British government will later today consider easing England’s Covid-19 rules for international travel. 

According to reports, ministers will remove the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a lateral flow test before departing their destination and a costly PCR test on their return into Britain, which can add hundreds of pounds per person to a trip.

Ministers will also simplify the destination categories into either low or high risk, scrapping amber, reported the Times newspaper, with many countries, including popular destination Turkey, expected to be removed from the high risk red list.  

According to reports, ministers will remove the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a lateral flow test before departing their destination and a costly PCR test on their return into Britain, which can add hundreds of pounds per person to a trip

Susannah Streeter, a senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown described this move as a ‘jolt of energy the travel industry desperately needed after months of uncertainty’. 

Airports, airlines and travel companies have continually warned the government of more job losses if these changes do not go ahead.

‘There are hundreds of businesses out there who will not survive this winter unless changes are made,’ TUI UK managing director Andrew Flintham told Sky News on Friday.

Data shows that Britain’s recovery is lagging. UK flights were down 39 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels for the two weeks to early September, while France, Spain and Italy were down between 24-28 per cent, according to Eurocontrol.

On Britain’s red list there are currently 62 countries, a designation that requires 11 nights in a quarantine hotel at a cost of more than £2,000. Quarantine hotels are expected to remain in place for red list arrivals.

Any change to the travel rules will apply to England, but devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could later follow suit.  

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk