The boss of Ryanair says he is "reasonably confident" families will be allowed on beach holidays to Europe this summer - as the budget airline announced a raft of new routes.
Michael O’Leary predicted Britain’s successful vaccination programme would prove the green light for breaks abroad to resume at last.
"We think there is a lot of pent-up demand for summer holiday travel," he said.
Mr O’Leary criticised what he called "hysteria" around the threat to summer breaks in Europe.
He added: "We expect the doing away with travel restrictions."
And he went on: "We are reasonably confident that there will be unrestricted holiday travel for British families going to European beach resorts in Portugal, Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearics in June, July, and August."
His comment came despite advice from ministers earlier this week not to book holidays this summer amid a third wave in coronavirus infections in Europe.
Mr O’Leary dismissed those views, saying: "I don’t frankly pay too much attention to it."
He went on: "If you’re fully vaccinated, I’d be very surprised if there was any legal basis for the UK government preventing people travelling on holidays to other European countries.
"It is very difficult to persuade the UK population to sit at home, or holiday at home, when everybody’s been vaccinated."
He said it had seen a "significant surge" in bookings for the summer, with holidays abroad “richly deserved” by families after what has happened during the past year.
It came as Ryanair said it was adding 26 new routes to popular holiday destinations in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The summer schedule includes over 2,300 weekly flights across 480 routes.
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