Join our community of smart investors

Shrinking green list clips airlines’ wings

With Portugal downgraded to amber, carriers’ shares have taken another hit
Shrinking green list clips airlines’ wingsPublished on June 4, 2021by Harriet Clarfelt
  • England’s dwindling green list spells further difficulty for squeezed airlines
  • Industry leaders have issued strong responses to Westminster’s decision
  • Net airline losses last year were estimated at $126bn

Saint Helena. A remote Atlantic island chosen as the site of Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile in 1815. Also one of the few places still featuring on England’s ‘green list’: a hallowed menu of holiday locations that people can travel to without needing to quarantine on their return.

Under Westminster’s traffic light system, only a handful of countries have made the cut for zero self-isolation measures. That handful became sparser this week. On 3 June, the government announced that Portugal – the nation that had hosted football’s Champions League Final just days earlier – would move to the ‘amber list’. Such a label means 10 days of mandatory quarantine at home, with two Covid-19 tests on days two and eight.

This is subscriber only content
Start your trial to keep reading
PRINT AND DIGITAL trial

Get 12 weeks for £12
  • Essential access to the website and app
  • Magazine delivered every week
  • Investment ideas, tools and analysis
Already a subscriber? Sign in