Chief executive of the airline, Michael O’Leary, told press that the company has seen a surge in bookings for summer holidays in Europe and expects to operate at around 80% of their usual summer capacity this year.

“I think it is very difficult to persuade the UK population to sit at home, or holiday at home when everybody’s been vaccinated,” he told reporters.

“We should be reasonably confident and optimistic,” he told Sky News.

“I think there’s a reasonable prospect, higher than 50%, of the UK families will be holidaying in June, July and August, in theory, in Spain, Greece and Portugal as normal.”