Airlines SHRINK their schedules until the end of July as Boris Johnson plans to move Freedom Day

Airlines have started shrinking their schedules until late July as the government plans to push Freedom Day back by a month.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet are cancelling flights until after the new July 19 date as demand plummets.

The budget airline has started dropping trips to Greece and France as Britons face a second summer trapped at home.

Meanwhile Stobart Air, which operates regional services for Aer Lingus, this morning ceased trading due to a lack of demand.

Last night it emerged Boris Johnson will delay the end of lockdown until July 19 after doctors urged him to wait until more people have been double jabbed.

After a sharp rise in the Indian variant, Cabinet sources said Freedom Day on June 21 was ‘not looking great’, with a four-week extension to restrictions ‘most likely’.

But in a bid to appease Tory MPs and ministers who are keen to unleash the economy, the Prime Minister is expected to promise a review after a fortnight.

This could allow curbs to be ditched earlier this year if hospital admissions remain low. 

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet are cancelling flights until after the new July 19 date as demand plummets (file photo)

The budget airline has started dropping trips to Greece (file photo) and France as Britons face a second summer trapped at home

The budget airline has started dropping trips to Greece (file photo) and France as Britons face a second summer trapped at home

Last night it emerged Boris Johnson (pictured yesterday) will delay the end of lockdown until July 19 after doctors urged him to wait until more people have been double jabbed

Last night it emerged Boris Johnson (pictured yesterday) will delay the end of lockdown until July 19 after doctors urged him to wait until more people have been double jabbed

Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency said airlines were shrinking their schedule because demand is plummeting.

He told MailOnline: ‘Airlines are reducing their flying schedules fast as government policies on overseas travel are putting off consumers from flying.

‘There simply isn’t enough demand to fly when so many countries are on amber and swab testing is so expensive.

‘So we’re now seeing airlines cutting their flying and staffing costs rapidly, as they ground more aircraft and return thousands of cabin crew and other staff to furlough.

‘The government is strangling the aviation sector even though the majority of adults in the UK have received both vaccine doses and should be given the freedom to fly.’

He added: ‘Why are we in a worse position than last summer when we had no vaccines?

‘The government should follow America’s and Europe’s lead and enable fully-jabbed citizens to fly more flexibly.’

Children SHOULD be vaccinated against Covid says Professor Peter Openshaw who advises ministers on the pandemic 

A Government adviser has urged ministers to consider vaccinating school-aged children to protect them from coronavirus.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), revealed ‘on balance’ he has come to the view children need to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Experts are still divided on whether Britain should begin vaccinating children this summer, with some insisting it would help deal with the Indian variant but critics suggesting supplies should be used to squash the pandemic abroad first. 

But Professor Openshaw said because children are now spreading the Delta variant, first discovered in India, in schools the case for vaccination is stronger.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘A lot of people are sitting on the fence about this but I think on balance I’m coming to the view that vaccination of children – there’s a very strong argument there.’

He said the vaccine was safe for children, while prolonged symptoms of coronavirus meant one in ten sufferers have not fully recovered.   

He added: ‘Originally with the Wuhan strain it didn’t seem there was very much amplification of the epidemic going on amongst people who were at school in contrast to what we know about influenza, where schools are often the major driver of spread. 

‘But with these more transmissible variants it is evident that they are being transmitted much more amongst young adults and school children and even younger children and that seems perhaps to be a change in the biological quality of the infection. 

‘It’s still fortunately not causing very high disease rates amongst those kids but it does strengthen the argument against vaccination.’

Under the PM’s Covid roadmap, June 21 was supposed to be the day when all social distancing curbs were lifted and the work-from-home advice abandoned.

Mr Johnson will make a final decision tomorrow night, before making an announcement to the nation on Monday evening.

But officials told the Mail last night that the debate in Downing Street was now concentrated on whether to ‘pause’ the reopening by two weeks or four.

In a significant intervention, the British Medical Association called on Mr Johnson to hold off until more people had received both doses of the vaccine.

Its council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the figures showed more time was needed to get the vaccine to more people.

‘With only 54.2 per cent of the adult population currently fully vaccinated and many younger people not yet eligible, there is a huge risk that prematurely relaxing all restrictions will undo the excellent work of the vaccine programme and lead to a surge of infections,’ he said.

Weddings could still get an exemption, with the 30-person cap on guests lifted on June 21 to allow the big weddings that many couples have booked to go ahead.

However, the delay to lifting the remainder of the curbs – which ban nightclubs opening, limit crowds at theatres and sporting events, restrict capacity indoors at pubs and restaurants and prevent people meeting in large groups – is likely to enrage many MPs, hospitality leaders and business chiefs.

The Mail revealed Mr Sunak told Mr Johnson he could live with a delay of ‘a week or two’ but would resist any further slippage as this could involve extending furlough.

Last night, nightclubs and bars threatened to sue the Government if the planned lifting of restrictions was postponed.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has already warned that he could take ministers to court if they do not allow theatres to operate at full capacity as planned.

And yesterday furious Tory MPs warned they will use every mechanism at their disposal to resist the delay of Freedom Day.

Julian Sturdy, the Conservative MP for York Outer, said: ‘Despite what lockdown supporters claim, it is simply not just a few extra weeks.

‘People’s livelihoods, mental health and our long-term freedoms are at permanent risk.’

The move towards delaying June 21 came after the number of cases of the Indian variant – also known as the Delta variant – increased by 240 per cent in a week.

England's coronavirus R rate is higher than at any time since October at a minimum of 1.2 and possible high of 1.4, SAGE estimated yesterday

England’s coronavirus R rate is higher than at any time since October at a minimum of 1.2 and possible high of 1.4, SAGE estimated yesterday

Public Health England data show how it took just a matter of weeks for the Indian 'Delta' variant to smash past the Kent strain and take over as dominant in England, with it surging to make up 96 per cent of cases in just nine weeks

Public Health England data show how it took just a matter of weeks for the Indian ‘Delta’ variant to smash past the Kent strain and take over as dominant in England, with it surging to make up 96 per cent of cases in just nine weeks

The Office for National Statistics' weekly infection survey suggested England's outbreak grew by only 13 per cent last week to 96,800 total cases - compared to a near-doubling 75 per cent surge the week before

The Office for National Statistics’ weekly infection survey suggested England’s outbreak grew by only 13 per cent last week to 96,800 total cases – compared to a near-doubling 75 per cent surge the week before

Public Health England said the infections had risen from 12,431 to 42,323 in the latest seven-day period, an increase of 29,892 cases.

The majority of cases appeared to be among the unvaccinated. The R-rate of reproduction also increased yesterday to between 1.2 and 1.4.

In a further sign that a delay is likely, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday stressed the importance of being ‘really careful’ in lifting coronavirus restrictions and urged against ‘squander(ing) those hard-fought gains’ made by the vaccination programme.

At the G7 summit in Cornwall yesterday, Mr Johnson told fellow world leaders that it was important not to ‘repeat some of the errors that we doubtless made in the course of the last 18 months’.

The PM has been criticised for not locking down sooner last year.

Kate Nicholls, the boss of UK Hospitality, said last night: ‘Any delay in the roadmap would have a devastating effect on an already fragile hospitality sector.

‘A one-month delay would cost the sector £3billion in sales and push many businesses even closer to the cliff edge of failure, meaning more job losses.’

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