The UK government issued advice against all but essential travel to mainland Spain on Saturday due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in the north of the country.
Alone among operators, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays had planned to continue selling packages to four destinations in mainland Spain – Costa de Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Murcia – stating they were "open and located away from areas which have been impacted by increased cases of Covid-19".
However, on Monday afternoon it did an about-turn, saying: “Following the latest government advice regarding travel to mainland Spain from the UK, we have taken the decision to suspend our flights and holidays programme to Costa de Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Murcia from 28th July up to and including 16th August.
“Where customers are affected by any programme changes, Jet2holidays has been repeatedly recognised by media, consumer organisations and independent travel agents for how we have been looking after customers, and we will be automatically cancelling affected trade bookings with a full refund.
“We will also contact customers who are currently in Mainland Spain to advise them of their options regarding flying back to the UK. For bookings due to travel to mainland Spain from 17th August onwards, we will provide an additional update once we receive further information from the government.
“We urge the government to provide the industry with clarity, so that we can keep everybody up-to-date and informed. We are continuing to operate flights and holidays to our destinations in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands as scheduled.
"Because the FCO travel advice to these destinations remains unchanged, our usual terms and conditions apply. This is a fast-moving situation, which we are continuing to monitor very closely.
“We would like to thank our independent travel agency partners for their understanding and patience.”
