Flyers on budget airline Ryanair could be asked to wear face masks until next year, it has been revealed.
Holidaymakers could be jetting off to warmer climes this summer as lockdown restrictions slowly ease.
The Daily Record reports how Ryanair plans to put on around 2,300 flights every week during summer this year - around 80% of its normal workload.
But beachgoers will need to remember to pack face masks along with other essentials.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O’Leary said: "I would imagine at this point in time, we’re planning to continue to require mandatory face mask wearing on board our aircraft through the remainder of this summer schedule and next winter’s schedule."
He added that this could continue until the spring of 2022, unless there are new guidelines from European authorities.
There is currently no set date for when foreign holidays will be allowed to resume in Scotland, while those in England could be allowed to jet abroad as early as May 17.
In Scotland, national clinical director Jason Leitch also said foreign summer holidays in Europe were looking "less likely" as Covid-19 numbers in some countries were a "cause for concern".
Ryanair is has taken a massive hit over the last year, carrying only around 33 million passengers in the year to February, compared to the usual 154 million.
Airlines are now hoping that vaccination efforts can allow a return to fairly normal holiday plans this summer, with European destinations primarily back on the cards.
“Families will be travelling to and from the UK, to and from Europe, going to the beaches of Europe on summer holidays that are richly deserved after the very fraught last 12 months,” Mr O’Leary said.
“I’m pleased to report that we’ve had a recent surge in bookings, as the UK began to open up restrictions also, two weeks ago when Germany eased their restrictions on travel… we’ve seen a significant surge in bookings,” he said.
Mr O’Leary added that the airline could survive another lost summer of travel – however, he saw little reason for this to happen.
He said: “If you’re fully vaccinated, frankly, I would be very surprised if there was any legal basis for the UK Government preventing people travelling on holidays to other European countries, which will have caught up with the UK vaccine rollout programme by the end of May or the end of June.”
Government and health officials in Scotland have remained cautious about the reopening of international travel amid the pandemic.
Nicola Sturgeon previously warned Scots holidaymakers that overseas travel is unlikely to be possible before June at the earliest.
Speaking at a coronavirus press briefing last week, the First Minister said: “All of us want to have every aspect of life back to normal, for the benefits of individual freedoms as well as the importance of international travel to our economy.
"But we know two things right now. While we see lots of signs here, domestically in Scotland and across the UK, the picture is not as rosy in many other parts of Europe including some parts of Europe, where we are starting to some increase in the virus.
"We have to be cautious. This is a global pandemic, and we have to be cautious about the global pandemic as we consider our connectedness.”
