The traffic light system for international travel is to be scrapped and the number of countries from which returning travellers will be required to quarantine in a hotel is to be cut, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.

From Monday October 4, there will be a single red list of countries from where travellers to England must stay in a Government-supervised hotel – with Turkey, Pakistan and the Maldives all removed from the line-up.

People who are fully vaccinated will no longer need a pre-departure test before returning from non-red list destinations, and from later in the month will be able to replace the day two PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow test.

In a series of tweets, Mr Shapps said the new “simplified” system aimed to strike “the right balance to manage the public health risk as No.1 priority”.

The widely expected move comes amid intense pressure from the travel industry to relax restrictions after another summer hit by coronavirus controls.

British Airways chief executive and chairman Sean Doyle urged the Government to go further and sweep away all testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers.

He said: “We welcome the simplification of the traffic light system, and the changes to the testing requirements allowing UK travellers to benefit from our world-leading vaccination programme and finally giving customers and business the confidence to book the journeys they’ve been waiting for.

“Based on the scientific evidence, with fewer than 1% of people returning from low-risk countries testing positive for Covid (lower than the UK’s rate), we urge ministers to keep this policy under review, eliminating all testing for fully vaccinated travellers as soon as possible in the future, in line with most other European countries.”

Responding to the changes to England’s international travel framework, Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, said: “This is a welcome step forward for our customers and a move that will make it significantly easier for the fully vaccinated to travel to Europe, opening up flying again for many more UK consumers.

“Removing the pre-departure test coupled with the disbanding of the traffic light system will inject some much needed confidence into travel once again.

“However, vaccinated travellers and those from low-risk countries will still have to do an unnecessary test after arriving in the UK, making travel less affordable for all. Since July 1 there has been no testing at all for vaccinated travellers within the rest of Europe, and this is why the UK will continue to fall further behind the rest of Europe if this remains.

“We will continue to support travel restrictions that protect the vaccine programme and the NHS, and argue for the removal of measures that are not necessary for this.”