On 15 July, nearly 50 flights departed from airports across Manchester, Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Glasgow, Newcastle and Stansted to destinations in the Canaries, the Balearics, Turkey and Greece.

Jet2 will be operating flights and holidays to 44 destinations this summer. From August, the provider will include services to Cyprus and Portugal, and flights to cities such as Barcelona, Prague, Rome and Amsterdam will recommence from September.

Chief executive of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays Steve Heapy said: “We have been saying for some time that the sun will shine again and that when it does, we will be there to take customers away on their well-deserved holidays. That day has finally arrived, and we were delighted to see our first of flights take off.

"It is fantastic to be back in the air and recommencing our award-winning flights and package holidays to sunny destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.

"The safety, wellbeing and comfort of our customers is our number one priority. Thanks to our three-step pledge, customers are in safe hands when they travel with us. Through our industry-leading customer service, customers know they can rely on us to deliver everything needed to make their holiday a happy and healthy one."

Meanwhile, Jet2holidays has also revealed a new digital trade support programme to help agents sell vacations this summer. Heapy explained: “These have been incredibly uncertain and difficult times for everyone, and we have been very busy looking after our independent travel agency partners and doing the right thing for them. We would like to thank them for their valuable support too, which has showed just how strong the partnership with our agency partners is.”

With travel starting up again, travellers are looking to stay safe and purchase travel insurance now more than ever, with a majority of travellers considering travel insurance essential, according to a study by Brazilian travel assistance company Travel Ace.