Last checked at 
(Recasts with government confirmation, easyJet statement)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Britain has removed Portugal from
its quarantine-free travel list, the country's transport
minister said on Thursday, essentially shutting down the UK's
leisure travel market and deepening the pandemic crisis for
airlines.
Airline easyJet also said no new countries would be
added to the so-called green list.
Britain relaunched travel on May 17 following more than four
months of lockdown, with Portugal the only big destination open
to UK travellers.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps told reporters that Portugal
would be moved to the amber list due to rising COVID-19 case
numbers and the risk of a mutation of the virus variant first
discovered in India.
Over the last three weeks, Portugal has proved a lifeline
for airlines and travel companies. The industry had been
expecting a wider reopening this month, but instead will face
weeks of cancellations and more uncertainty.
"This decision essentially cuts the UK off from the rest of
the world," easyJet said in an emailed statement.
The airline also said that the UK would be left behind as
governments across Europe start to open up travel.
Shares in easyJet and British Airways-owner IAG and
Jet2 were down 5%, while Ryanair and TUI
, which has a big German customer base as well as
British, lost 4% on fears that Europe would lose another peak
travel season, when millions of Britons usually head to southern
Europe in July and August.
The industry is already weakened by 15 months of lockdowns
and it will be severely financially challenged if there is no
reopening this summer.
Many companies had hoped for bumper trading given that
Britain has one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and is
gradually reopening its domestic economy.
But worries over the spread of new more transmissible
variants of coronavirus and the vaccine's efficacy against them
are now threatening that plan.
Data provided by Cirium showed that Ryanair and easyJet had
been scheduled to operate over 500 flights from the UK to
Portugal in June. The airlines had all added flights to the
country in May.
Under the UK system, travel to countries rated amber or red
is not illegal but it is discouraged. Spain, France, Italy and
the United States are on the amber list which means quarantining
on return, restricting demand from Britons for what are usually
the most popular destinations.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had warned the travel industry
that protecting the country's vaccine roll-out was his priority.
"I want you to know we will have no hesitation in moving
countries from the green list to the amber list to the red list
if we have to do so. The priority is to continue the vaccine
rollout, to protect the people of this country," he told
reporters.
Travel companies and airlines have criticised the government
for being overly cautious, saying that increasing vaccination
rates and testing can make travel safe.
(Reporting by William James and Sarah Young, Editing by Paul
Sandle, Kate Holton and Andrew Heavens and Kirsten Donovan)
