A legal challenge to the Government’s traffic light travel system will be launched today, brought by airline and airport bosses.

Ryanair and Manchester Airports Group, which operates Manchester, East Midlands and Stansted airports, will file papers at the High Court later.

It’s understood they have the backing of other airlines and operators.

They want the Government to explain the scientific basis of the system, which was introduced with the intention of ensuring the smooth restart of overseas travel, but in fact has caused a repeat of last year’s chaos.

They say they can’t understand how the Government decides which countries are placed on the green, amber and red lists.

Ahead of the legal challenge, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “The UK’s COVID travel policy is a shambles. The green list is non-existent because countries such as Malta and Portugal, with lower COVID case numbers than the UK and rapidly rising vaccination rates, remain on amber.

“Meanwhile, UK citizens, almost 80% of whom will be vaccinated by the end of June, continue to face COVID restrictions on travel to and from the European Union, despite the fact that the majority of EU citizens will also be vaccinated by the end of June.

He went further during an interview with the Telegraph, saying: “I’ve never come across a more incompetent f****** front bench of ministers. 

“I have no faith in Johnson’s Government on any of these issues, having completely mismanaged the original lockdowns last year and the reopening now.”