According to Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (ČSSD), the Czech Republic’s borders with neighboring countries should be fully open from July, Hospodářské noviny writes.

Negotiations with Slovakia and Austria are the most advanced, meanwhile with Poland and Germany “it will require more time”, the minister said this evening.

“From July, I would like the borders to be fully opened to four neighboring countries – Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. I’m honest when I say that we are well advanced in negotiations with Austria and Slovakia. Negotiations with Poland will probably be the most difficult,” Petříček added.

From August, Czechs could travel not only to Croatia, Slovenia, and Greece, but also to more distant destinations outside Europe, such as Canada, Australia, and Japan.

According to Petříček, it is “still premature to talk about Italy, Spain, France, the USA, and Benelux.”

With effect from April 14th, 2020 Czech citizens and foreigners, are again able to travel abroad, now with the possibility of returning during the state of emergency.

Travel is allowed in necessary and justified cases only (e.g. fulfillment of official duties, work abroad, funeral etc.), which will have to be proven individually to the police at border crossings.

Anyway, as the Prime Minister Babis said in a previous interview, “we had theoretically opened the borders, but in practice, people cannot get anywhere. Flights are mostly canceled and other governments won’t allow people from other countries to enter unless they have a valid coronavirus test.”

On April 20, the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman says the “borders should remain closed at least for one year to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

Since March, the coronavirus has been confirmed in 7,740 cases. To date, 3,378 people have recovered from Covid-19, while 241 patients have died.

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with more than three million confirmed cases in 185 countries. More than 200,000 people have lost their lives.

The US has by far the largest number of cases, with more than one million confirmed infections, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University. With more than 60,000 fatalities, it also has the world’s highest death toll.

Ryanair is planning to cut 3,000 pilot and cabin crew jobs and reduce staff pay by up to a fifth in response to the Covid-19 crisis, which has grounded flights.

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier said it expected it will now take at least two years for a return to 2019 passenger demand and pricing, estimating summer 2020 at the earliest, as it laid out plans to cut further costs.

Group CEO Michael O’Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has now agreed to extend this 50% pay cut for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.

He told the BBC: “If a vaccine isn’t found then clearly we may have to announce more cuts and deeper cuts into the future.”

In a Covid-19 market update today, Ryanair said it would ground more than 99% of its flights until July and said it had begun negotiations with Boeing about cutting the number of aircraft deliveries over the next 24 months.

It expects to carry fewer than 100 million passengers for the year to the end of March 2021, 35% less than its original target of 154 million.

O’Leary also addressed complaints from customers about the difficulty in getting refunds for cancelled flights. The airline is offering vouchers in the first instance.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he said: “We will give you your money back. If you want a cash refund, you will receive a cash refund.”

But he added: “It’s going to take us many months to process these cash refunds. The airline would normally process 10,000 claims a month but was currently dealing with a backlog of 25m, covering cancellations from March to May.”

Earlier, Mr. O’Leary said he planned to challenge in European Courts what he described as more than €30 billion in “unlawful and discriminatory state aid” to a dozen rivals, including Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM Group, and Alitalia.