Last checked at 
* UK says double vaccine shot process can open up travel
* Transport minister adds Malta, Spain's Balearics to green
list
* Anger rises over travel restrictions
* Germany's Merkel: Europe should quarantine Britons
(Recasts, adds green list and travel plans for fully
vaccinated)
By Sarah Young and Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain will next month publish
plans to allow fully vaccinated people to travel unrestricted to
all countries except those with the highest COVID-19 risk, in a
boost for a travel industry wrecked by the pandemic.
Airlines welcomed the move and they were further cheered by
news late on Thursday that Britain will add Malta, Spain's
Balearic Islands and the Portuguese island of Madeira to its
"green list" for safe travel spots from June 30.
"Thanks to our successful vaccination programme, our
intention is that later in the summer UK residents who are fully
vaccinated will not have to isolate when travelling from amber
list countries," Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.
"We'll set out further details next month," he tweeted.
"The Department for Transport declined to say if the easing
of restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers would take place
in a matter of weeks or months.
British Airways and Jet2.com welcomed the
news.
"We cannot afford another missed summer," said BA chairman
and chief executive officer Sean Doyle in a statement.
"There are jobs at stake, Britons separated from family
members and we cannot afford to allow the success of our vaccine
programme to be wasted."
EasyJet said the reopening fell short of a safe and
sustainable easing of restrictions promised by Britain's
government.
"The science shows that travel to many European countries
would have very little impact on hospitalisation and this is
even more the case now given that COVID cases in Europe have
declined," said EasyJet chief executive officer Johan Lundgren.
The government has come under increasing pressure to ease
restrictions as the peak July and August holiday season
approaches.
Pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other workers from the
travel industry held protests on Wednesday, calling on the
government to open up more routes, while BA, easyJet and TUI
backed a court case questioning the government's travel
rules.
Britain has one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the
world but so far the government has effectively prevented travel
to most countries through quarantine and testing rules,
prompting the industry to warn of multiple business failures and
job losses.
RED LIST
"We celebrate that the government's work has borne fruit and
Britain has valued the Balearics' excellent health situation to
open it as a safe destination for its citizens," Spanish Tourism
Minister Reyes Maroto tweeted.
Eritrea, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mongolia, Tunisia and
Uganda will be added to Britain's red list for the most severe
travel restrictions, Shapps said.
Israel will be added to the green watchlist - meaning it
could be downgraded to an amber list country that means
travellers must isolate on return.
Any wider reopening of travel from the UK faces a new
challenge as European destinations could start to restrict
entry.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would
like European countries to require people entering from Britain
to go into quarantine, as is the case in Germany, citing the
high prevalence of the more infectious Delta variant in the UK.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Sarah Young, Kate Holton and
Michael Holden, Additional reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette in
Madrid
Writing by Andy Bruce
Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Alistair Bell)
