Airlines UK, the retailer representing carriers including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, has said Britain’s decision to add France, Malta and the Netherlands to its quarantine list is yet another ‘devastating blow’ to the sector.
“It’s another devastating blow to the travel industry that is already suffering from the worst crisis in its history,” the organization said in a statement to CNN on Friday.
The United Kingdom announced Thursday night that people arriving from France, Malta and the Netherlands, such as Aruba and the Turks and Caicos Islands, were required to be quarantined for 14 days from arrival at 4pm local time on Saturday (11pm ET Friday).
Since reducing restrictions on lockdown, the UK has maintained a travel corridor with listed countries whose people can travel without having to be quarantined, but the list has repeatedly changed as cases worldwide spike and disappear. Thursday’s announcement follows rising cases of coronavirus in countries across Europe.
Airlines UK urges the UK Government to consider a regional approach to quarantine as opposed to a national one, which affects people traveling from any part of a affected country, regardless of regional business tariffs.
The Chamber of Commerce said the UK’s broad-based, weekly ‘stop and go’ changes to national corridors at national level were disruptive to airlines and passengers.
Airlines UK has also been tasked with implementing a test regime for oncoming passengers so that those who test negative can avoid having to isolate themselves.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also called for coordinated action – it has already warned that 780,000 jobs in the UK are at risk due to the shutdown of aviation.
“While we are learning to live with Covid-19, a stop-go approach to lifting restrictions may not be the answer. Alternatives to raw national quarantine requirements should be considered,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA Regional Vice President for Europe .
France has said it will impose reciprocal quarantine measures on visitors to the UK.
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