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£75m airlift for Britons stranded on holiday

Repatriation operation to bring home 300,000

An unprecedented operation to repatriate up to 300,000 UK citizens could drag on for weeks, with ministers warning that it will not be “quick or easy”.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said that the scale of the mission was “enormous” because of the sheer number of countries throughout the world where Britons are stranded.

He said that the operation — expected to start in the coming days — would dwarf one carried out last autumn to repatriate about 150,000 holidaymakers stuck abroad following the collapse of Thomas Cook. It will also be more complex than a similar programme already carried out by Germany, he said.

The comments were made as it was announced that the government will spend £75 million chartering hundreds of aircraft from