AIRLINE Jet2 has suspended flights from Scotland to Spain after the First Minister refused to relax quarantine rules for people entering from the country.

Nicola Sturgeon confirmed there are 57 countries Scots can return from without needing to self-isolate for 14 days, however Spain was not included on that list due to the level of Covid-19 there.

The First Minister said it had been a “very difficult decision” to make. Speaking at a Scottish Government briefing earlier this week, she told viewers that the prevalence of coronavirus in Spain is less than twice that of the UK’s as a whole, but more than 10 times the estimated rate for Scotland.

Two regions in Spain have been put back into lockdown in recent days following new outbreaks there. La Marina, Galicia, faces stricter rules, as does the Catalan Lleida area.

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Jet2 said it would be suspending all flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports until July 25 in response to the news.

A spokeswoman said: "Our customers have been eagerly awaiting clarity about where they can travel to from Scotland for some time, and based on the demand we are experiencing it is clear that they are ready for their much-needed and well-deserved holidays.

"Because of the travel restrictions that are still in place to Spain as a result of this week's announcement by the Scottish government, we have taken the decision to recommence our flights and holidays programmes from Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports to Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands on 25 July 2020."

Gordon Robertson, the director of communications at Edinburgh Airport, has warned about a third of jobs there are under threat after months of lockdown.

He has said the business will “certainly not be back to any kind of normality until 2021”.