The UK government has formally issued its guidance governing passengers, airports and airlines as air travel starts to awaken from its COVID-19-induced hibernation.

The guidance documents are essentially a collection of widely trailed comments from ministers and others over recent weeks and repeat most of the same mantras that have become familiar to Britons during the pandemic.

Some measures, however, appear to fall into the wishful-thinking category, such as the suggestion that passengers should “avoid the busiest times and routes”—not always practical—or the blindingly obvious, such as not traveling if they have symptoms of coronavirus.

The guidance has been issued in the same week as the widely derided plan to insist incoming passengers to the UK should self-isolate for 14 days was introduced. Airlines and industry observers have said that such a plan would have been useful at the outset of the pandemic but will significantly hinder the UK’s airlines and tourism sector as they attempt to get back on their feet.

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