Govt must announce travel restart plans on 12 April, say MPs

The influential transport committee said the taskforce’s report should be made public on 12 April and be accompanied by a statement in the House of Commons to set out “the next steps to recovery”.

The cross-party committee of MPs is urging the government not to restrict the report’s recommendations to prime minister Boris Johnson and added that failing to publish them would be “risking another blow to the stricken sector”.

The committee added that delaying the 17 May restart date for international travel would mean the “financial challenges facing aviation business could reach critical levels”. It urged the government to stick to this date as long as the four "reopening tests" set out in February are met.

Huw Merriman, the committee’s chair, said: “The 12 April date should not merely be the date when the Global Travel Taskforce makes a recommendation on an international travel route map for the prime minister to take forward but, as was expected, the date when the industry and public are informed by government of the way forward.