The share prices of airlines and other travel companies rose on Tuesday, January 4, amid hopes that restrictions could be loosened and the Omicron variant is not as severe as earlier strains of Covid-19.
Despite record numbers of cases in the US, UK, France and Italy, travel and leisure stocks surged because of the Omicron variant, according to the Financial Times.
Industry executives expect the government to abolish the requirement to take a pre-departure test before returning to the UK as part of a review of rules on Wednesday.
Pre-departure tests could be scrapped.
The impact of Omicron is shown in traffic figures.
Wizz Air reported a rise in traffic in December.
According to people familiar with the matter, Grant Shapps wants to abolish the testing rules to help the aviation sector.
Sky reported that the FTSE 100 climbed by as much as 100 points in early trading, hitting levels last seen in February 2020 before shares were hit by a steep slump.
British Airways and Aer Lingus owner International Airlines Group were the top performers on the FTSE 100.
easyJet, Wizz Air and Ryanair saw their shares prices rise.
Travel stocks are powering ahead.
The stock market is powered by stocks reliant on international travel.
A wave of relief is pushing up companies which have been hit by worries about tighter restrictions.
With so many people in the short-term being forced to isolation at home, it is likely that many will be spending the next few weeks browsing travel blogs for inspiration.
There are high hopes for a bright 2022, after two years of pain in the aviation industry.
There are reasons for optimism.
The chief executive of easyJet told the newspaper that there were lots of reasons for optimism, including high vaccination rates, Covid protection measures and flexible booking and cancellation policies.
The government has conceded that measures are not effective once a variant is in wide circulation domestically.
The prime minister said on Tuesday that he hopes the country can ride out the current wave, although he acknowledged parts of the health service would feel overwhelmed.
Airlines UK argued that the current measures would be financially disastrous, while Manchester Airports Group claimed that pre-departure testing has had little or no impact on the spread of Omicron.
Pre-departure tests could be scrapped.
The impact of Omicron is shown in traffic figures.
Wizz Air reported a rise in traffic in December.
