Coronavirus: Jet2 suspends all flights to Spain from Scotland

Holiday airline Jet2 has suspended all flights to Spain from Scotland as a result of the 14-day quarantine rule.

Passengers travelling into Scotland from Spain have to go into isolation for 14 days after Nicola Sturgeon confirmed she would not yet allow an "air bridge" with the country.

Spain and Serbia were left off the quarantine exemption list announced by the first minister earlier this week.

They were omitted due to concerns about the prevalence of Covid-19.

Flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports will not resume until 25 July, according to the airline.

'Awaiting clarity'

A spokeswoman for Jet2 said: "Our customers have been eagerly awaiting clarity about where they can travel to from Scotland for some time, and based on the demand we are experiencing it is clear that they are ready for their much-needed and well-deserved holidays.

"Because of the travel restrictions that are still in place to Spain as a result of this week's announcement by the Scottish government, we have taken the decision to recommence our flights and holidays programmes from Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports to Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands on 25 July 2020."

Nicola Sturgeon said cases entering Scotland from abroad was "one of our biggest risk factors"

The company said that customers would offered a refund or the chance to rebook.

Most of the company's flights from Scotland to holiday destinations are due to resume on 15 July.

From today, Scots are able to travel to 57 other countries without having to self-isolate on returning.

Job cuts

The first minister said it was a "very difficult decision" to make, but that it was needed to "protect Scotland as far as possible from a resurgence of this virus in the weeks ahead".

Meanwhile, Edinburgh Airport has warned that about a third of its 7,000 jobs are under threat.

Director of communications Gordon Robertson said the airport will not return to 2019 levels of business for another few years, and "certainly not back to any kind of normality until 2021".

Redundancies are currently being negotiated, in consultation with unions.

Aircraft movement

"We employ 750 people there, and the airport employs around 7.000 people as a whole, and we think there will be up to a third of job losses across that, so it is a very challenging time," Mr Robertson told BBC Radio Scotland.

He said Spain was "one of our biggest markets" and a big chunk of the summer schedules for airports like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick.

"More importantly, decisions made now means aircraft might move to England and not come back for next year's summer schedule," he added.

"It has long-lasting impacts and we hope the Scottish government can make decisions quickly so we can get back to flying to Spain soon."