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Willie Walsh, CEO of the owner of Aer Lingus and British Airways, said the company will need to review its plans to resume flights after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed to quarantine people flying to the Kingdom. United.
In a speech to the nation on Sunday, Johnson said “the time will soon be” to begin a quarantine period for air passengers to avoid Covid-19 infections from abroad.
Walsh, executive director of the International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), said there was “nothing positive” in the direction.
Presenting evidence to the House of Commons transportation committee on the air travel lawsuit, Walsh said: “Yesterday’s announcements of a 14-day period [for people] Coming to the UK is definitely going to make things worse.
“There is nothing positive about anything I heard the Prime Minister say yesterday.
“We had planned to resume, quite significantly, our flight in July. I think we should review that based on what the prime minister said yesterday. “
Walsh told the committee that British Airways’ ability to operate will be “fairly minimal” in the event of an imposed quarantine.
He added: “Despite the fact that there were some rumors about this quarantine period, I don’t think anyone believed that the UK government would actually implement it if they were serious about the possibility of the economy moving again.”
The prime minister proposed quarantine in the speech on Sunday and said it would be effective due to a decrease in the number of infections in the UK.
Johnson said: “To prevent reinfection from abroad, I am notifying that the time will soon be, with significantly less transmission, to impose quarantine on people entering this country by air.”
Mr. Walsh told the committee that the two-week quarantine for air passengers was a “surprise” since there are no similar quarantines for other forms of international travel.
He said: “I don’t understand that, but perhaps the Prime Minister will be able to clarify the science behind it. It seems strange to me.
The BBC reports that the UK government has since clarified that the quarantine rules would apply not only to air passengers, but also to those arriving by other means of travel.
Mr. Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that quarantine measures would not apply between France and the United Kingdom “at this stage,” according to a joint statement released after the speech.
Arrivals from the Republic are also not affected by the proposed quarantine regulations, such as those for the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
It was also reported that the plan is to impose a 14-day quarantine, and Airlines UK said the government had told it that it would be in effect at the end of the month or the beginning of June.
A government official said the quarantine is “still a few weeks away from occurring,” adding: “What the scientific council tells you is that when national transmission is high, imported cases represent a small amount of the overall total and they do not make a significant difference in the epidemic.
“However, this can change when the rate of infection of domestic transmission is low and people come from countries with a higher infection rate.”
The official said industry and business will be heard, but the “purpose is to prevent disease from being imported into the UK.” – PA
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