Eight countries, including Turkey and Egypt, will be removed from the UK’s red list from 4am on Wednesday (22 September) while from 4 October, fully vaccinated travellers to England will no longer have to provide evidence of a negative pre-departure test.

Later in October, the Day 2 test requirement, meanwhile, will be eased from PCR standard to lateral flow; this will initially apply only to England as well. The government has said it is hopeful it can make this change to coincide with October half-term.

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will restart its Turkey flight and holiday programme to Antalya and Dalaman on Thursday (23 September), with chief executive Steve Heapy predicting "phenomenal demand" for late-summer sunshine, October half-term breaks and winter-sun.

“We have seen demand step up over the last few days, and there has been an immediate and massive surge in bookings for package holidays on the back of this welcome news for holidaymakers and independent travel agents in England," said Heapy.

EasyJet is preparing to add in excess of another 50,000 seats to beach destinations this October, with Alicante, Majorca and Faro among its most popular destinations for October getaways. Antalya, Tenerife and Sharm el Sheikh, meanwhile, lead the way specifically for October half-term breaks.

Extra seats to Dalaman in Turkey will be added from Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol, with flights also available to Antalya. EasyJet’s Turkey flights lead in from £22.99pp one-way.

The airline has also reported a fresh uptick in demand for New Year ski breaks to resorts in the French and Swiss alps served by Geneva. EasyJet is also offering winter 2021/22 ski flights to Grenoble, Lyon, Salzburg, Turin and Innsbruck.

"Every time restrictions have been relaxed or removed we have seen pent up demand and this is no exception," said easyJet chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers. "We have seen a huge surge in bookings since the move by the government to disband the traffic light system, take away the pre-departure test and remove popular summer sun destinations from the red list.

"With Brits scrambling for last minute summer sun, particularly over the October half term, we are putting on even more flights to the most popular beach hot spots to serve this added demand."

EasyJet holidays chief executive Garry Wilson said he expected the removal of Turkey from the red list to be a real boost for holidaymakers, while the operator said over the weekend that Antalya was among destinations experiencing an increase in October half-term bookings.

"While late summer sun is proving most popular, consumer demand for winter breaks also increased with November and December bookings also seeing significant growth," said easyJet holidays.

Tui also said it had recorded an immediate uptick in October bookings for Turkey, and a "big increase" in bookings from people seeking some winter sun. "It’s a positive step forward for our fully vaccinated customers looking to get away on holiday," said Tui UK managing director Andrew Flintham.

"We believe these changes will provide much-needed reassurance  for customers looking to book ahead, especially as it removes some of the layers of complexity and expense UK holidaymakers have faced this summer.

"As a result of these changes we expect to see customer confidence improve as we look ahead to these changes being implemented and travel starting to return to something a little more normal."