Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said the destinations should be placed on the list “as a minimum” when the next traffic light review takes place later this month.

Speaking to TTG from Jet2’s newly launched base at Bristol, he argued Cyprus should also go green, which despite a rise in Covid infections had “an incredible testing programme”.

Heapy questioned the government’s methods for choosing which country would be given which traffic light status – echoing fellow travel leaders in slamming its lack of clarity. 

“What we don’t get from the government is an assessment of each country and why it’s not on the green list and what data they’re looking for.

“What’s an acceptable infection rate? What’s an acceptable vaccination rate? But looking at the data we have access to, which some of it is the same as the government’s, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have the canaries and Greek islands as a minimum.”

He questioned why Covid infection rates were being used to decide a destination’s level of risk. 

“Surely we have to move away from measuring infections to measuring hospitalising and serious illness and deaths? Even so, why do we measure that? We don’t measure it for flu.

“The government has intimated that Covid will have to become business as usual and we’ve got to accept it. Well, if that’s the case – stop reporting infections because we don’t report flu or anything else.”