Tui, Wizz Air, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, and easyJet and easyJet holidays, were among those early out of the blocks late on Friday (7 May) and over the weekend follow transport secretary Grant Shapps’s long-awaited traffic light announcement.

In the end, despite speculation it could extend to between 25 to 30, a total of 12 countries and territories made the government’s green list, including Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores), Gibraltar, Iceland and Israel; arrivals from green list destinations won’t have to quarantine, but will have to take a pre-departure test and a PCR test by the end of the second day of their return.

Tui said it was upping flights and holidays to the Algarve and the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira and the Algarve, with new departures from Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

It will put on additional weekly Gatwick and Manchester flights to Funchal from 21 May to 29 October, and extra twice-weekly Birmingham flights on Mondays and Fridays from 17 May to 29 October, opening up 10- and 11-night holiday options.

To Faro, serving the Algarve, Tui will offer an additional weekly flight from Bristol, operating every Thursday from 20 May to 28 October. It comes in additional to tui’s 11 weekly Faro flights already on offer from its other UK bases, flying on Thursdays and Sundays.

Tui is offering free changes on bookings to green list destinations through to 31 August. Managing director Andrew Flintham said a spike in demand for Portugal came as no surprise, adding the operator’s vertically integrated model put it in a unique position to respond to customer demand.

EasyJet said it had put an extra 80,000 seats on sale to green list destinations across existing routes, and announced it would relaunch its Newcastle-Faro route from 19 July, operating three-times weekly. It claims to be currently planning to operator more seats to green list destinations than any other operator.

It has so far laid on additional Faro sats from Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Gatwick, Liverpool, Luton and Manchester; additional Lisbon seats from Bristol, Edinburgh, Luton and Manchester, additional Funchal seats from Bristol, and extra Gibraltar seats from Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick and Manchester.

In total, easyJet plans to operate 20 routes to Portugal, flying to Lisbon, Faro, Porto and Funchal, from nine bases, flying up to 185 times a week this summer. Flight fares lead in from £29.99pp; holidays start from £269pp. It will also offer four Gibraltar routes from four UK airports, with up to 22 flights a week.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren, though, said while easyJet was "disappointed" by the lack of countries on the green list, stating it was not "justified by data or science" and was "inconsistent" with the approach to reopening the UK’s domestic economy, it was "ready and able to ramp up" as more destinations are added to the green list.

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays claimed Faro and Madeira bookings increased 600% in the 24 hours following the announcement, and 1,300% compared to the same period a week earlier, although it did not disclose any specific figures.

It will operate to Faro from all 10 of its UK bases this summer, and to Madeira from all but one. Unlike its competitors, who opted to wait until the traffic light announcement, Jet2 made a firm decision to delay its restart until 24 June following publication on 9 April of the Global Travel Taskforce’s report on the resumption of international travel.

’Ready and raring to go’

Steve Heapy, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays chief executive, said: “We have seen enormous pent-up demand from holidaymakers for some time now, and this rush of bookings to Portugal just shows how ready people are to get away from the gloom to escape to the sunshine. We’re ready and raring to go from 24th June, with our teams looking forward to welcoming customers."

Echoing both Lundgren’s disappointment and resolve, Heapy added: "Although more cautious in approach than expected, the UK government has demonstrated that it wants to reopen travel, and we look forward to further positive news about where we can fly to in the coming weeks."

Wizz Air said it would restart flights to five green list destinations from 17 May – Faro, Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Reykjavik and Gibraltar. UK managing director Owain Jones said the budget carrier welcomed the government’s green list announcement, and said it was "prepared to ramp up operations quickly when restrictions ease".