Giving evidence to the transport committee, Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s chief commercial officer, said there was still confusion among consumers about the rule changes, which the government said would start in “early November”.

She said some schools “have their half-term the week before that, some the week that finishes the first of November, so people are still uncertain”.

“There is still a question around the need for a Day 2 test, whether that’s a PCR test, and we understand switching to a lateral flow test at the end of October. We still don’t have clarity on what date that is in October.”

Committee chair Huw Merriman said the lack of clarity would affect departures from key airports like Gatwick, situated in Sussex. “We talk of PCR tests ending later in October, but the children in East Sussex in terms of half-term, start on 22 October.”

Dekkers also called for more notice from the government when changes to the red list are made, with a watchlist “that actually means something”.

“Having announcements on a Thursday that means routes will go red from 4am on the following Monday morning has meant we have been scrambling to get aircraft out to try and get people back in time. 

“In reality, two more days wouldn’t make a big difference, but operationally and from a customer perspective, would make a huge difference.”

She called for an “open dialogue” with government to allow airlines to put plans in place “before the 5pm Friday night BBC news announcement that we all sit round and watch and then have to frantically scramble our teams together”.