The operator and sister airline have suspended restarts until 24 June following the publication of the eagerly anticipated report on Friday (9 April).
Heapy said despite the taskforce having weeks to explore how to restart international travel, he believed its findings lacked “rigorous detail” and described its proposed policies as “virtually the same as six months ago”.
“Following the publication of the framework today, we still do not know when we can start to fly, where we can fly to and the availability and cost of testing. Rather than answering questions, the framework leaves everyone asking more,” he said.
“We know how much our customers want to get away to enjoy their well-deserved holidays. We have seen buoyant confidence levels from UK holidaymakers… we are trying to run a business so that we can take customers away, but we need the government to provide us with clarity to achieve this.”
Heapy said due to the “continued uncertainty” provided by the taskforce framework, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays had chosen to extend their suspensions of operations until 24 June.
“Unlike many other companies, we will refund customers if they want their money back and we will not force them to accept refund credit notes,” he added.
“It has been over a year since international travel was first suspended because of the pandemic. Much has been achieved in that time, making it even more frustrating that we are still to receive a clear framework on how to restart international travel. We know it can be done, in a safe and secure way, and we will continue to support the government to achieve this.
“The health and safety of our customers and colleagues will of course continue to be our number one priority, and we look forward to taking our customers on their well-deserved holidays once again. We welcome the government’s ambition to reopen travel, however the time has come for the industry to receive the necessary detail to make this happen.”
