The Balearic Islands of Spain were kicked to the amber list on Wednesday, in the latest reshuffle of the government’s traffic light lists for travel – a day earlier than planned.
Grant Shapps announced the islands’ move as part of the Department for Transport’s tri-weekly travel review, in which he also bounced the British Virgin Islands down to the orange grade.
The Spanish islands, which include holiday favourites Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, officially joined the “green list” just over a fortnight ago. Territories rated green don’t require quarantine on return, but do still require a pre-departure lateral flow test and a day two PCR test.
The Balearics’ change in status to amber, which comes into effect from 4am on 19 July, will trigger a 10-day quarantine and two PCR tests for unvaccinated travellers aged 18 and over. It’s expected to kick off a stampede of Britons back to the UK to beat the quarantine deadline.
Soon after the reshuffle, fares from Spain’s Balearic islands to the UK soared as holidaymakers sought to beat the latest quarantine deadline. Prices for two Ryanair flights rose nine-fold in two hours.
An hour before the announcement, Ryanair’s morning and evening flights from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester were priced at just €14 (£12). An hour afterwards, Europe’s biggest budget airline was charging almost nine times more: €125 (£107).
Saturday’s mid-afternoon British Airways flight from Ibiza to London Heathrow was priced at €133 (£114). Within two hours, the same departure had risen to €255 (£220) – an increase of 92 per cent.
