It's the same with other airlines too though. I see Czech Airlines is starting up again soon with flights to Stockholm, Amsterdam, and other cities. I looked up the Czech regulations and they are the same, to enter you need to prove you are a resident, and on top of that, either go into a 14-day quarantine or have a negative test from the last few days. I genuinely don't understand how any plane could have more than a handful people in it with these sort of conditions? Most wanting to go home have surely already done so over the past two months.

How did they actually attempt to go?

Owning residential property will be more than enough — as in even unnecessary— for most in Europe if what the European governments are telling the airlines hold up.

These increased flight schedules are just test balloons for the moment. Airlines are well-aware of national entry restrictions.

They were denied boarding as they were not able to show proof of their residency document, despite attempting to prove they own property.

Owning property has unfortunately expressively been exempted by Italy and France as a reason to be granted entry. People have been lulled into a false sense of security and mislead by the EU for decades and find now themselves locked out from their own homes. A real scandal and a disaster for the property market as people may buy only property in a country where they have citizenship in the future.

And yes, the EU commission has "recommended" the reopening of internal Schengen borders not before 15 June 2020 and the French minister of interior has stated the same. Spain appears to be more strict in that even.

Only the most stupid will believe in free movement of persons within the EU in the future as the next real or imagined emergency will come for sure and the dangerous precedent has been set.

P.S. I do not own any real estate but feel for my friends who do

I'm not following your argument. It seems that you are saying European government are telling the airline industry that Schengen is internally open, which it isn't, currently. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

This is truly an extraordinary situation, and the closure of national borders was effected with a heavy heart but with a realisation that restrictions on movement needed to be implemented to reduce exposure. Aside from EU-semantics about free movement, how is this different from a country telling its people not to travel to a neighbouring city or state?

I own a holiday home in Florida. I can't go because the US won't let me in for the moment (not that I would go under the current circumstances anyway). Have I been lulled into a false sense of security that my visa waiver and/or GE status would never be (temporarily) revoked?

Schengen was built with an understanding that national borders can come back in play for extraordinary circumstances .... including public health emergencies.

“Will be” in more ways — not “is”so much.

But the airlines have their own test balloons indeed and are more than happy to take customers’ money now even if it turns out the booked flights don’t go.

I am saying that they are saying it will be opening at least a bit more internally — at least on some Balkanized basis — and that some airline service being resumed is being welcomed by the governments. Whether and how the governments stick to their representations or not is of course a gamble when resuming service/sales, but airlines also want the sales’ money they can get now even if it doesn’t pan out with delivering on the actual flight as booked/sold.

Understood!

With Ryanair now announcing it will try to fly 40% of its traffic as of July, July seems to be the main target for a significant resumption of services. I really don't see how it is possible given all the restrictions still around. But maybe I am wrong.

Maybe it’s a reference to 40% of its planes or routes.

The governments and airlines aren’t strangers to each other. They both are anticipating some opening of transport and tourism for this summer. In other words, they both are counting on restrictions being reduced/changed in ways that allow for some revival of travel and tourism. Whether or not governments will deliver on and stick to those representations is of course something to still be seen.

A court overturned the quarantine in Lower Saxony (Sorry, cannot find English links) https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/ana...ebung-101.html

This means that it may in the end also be changed by other states. The case was raised by a lawyer with a holiday home in Sweden who did not want to risk having to return and quarantine. I'm not sure how that would work for just one state to implement this, as HAJ does not have on a given day that many flights. However, anecdotally things are definitely picking up business-wise in Hannover and Wolfsburg so this is indeed good news all around and I'm hoping for quick developments.

The court overturned a blanket quarantine. They do allow for a quarantine of suspected cases.

Yes, but that is a big step forward. A blanket quarantine means that it would impact travel significantly vs a targeted one (which may still make sense). This opens the door to people planning trips with more confidence.