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The director of International Airlines Group (IAG), the group that owns British Airways, warned on Tuesday that reversing the decision to include Portugal in the list of destinations considered safe “will cause more chaos and difficulties for travelers.” In an opinion piece in the newspaper The timesWillie Walsh criticized the “ever-changing list of requirements” needed to open corridors, arguing that the UK would have “officially landed the ‘closed’ sign”.
Portugal passed to join the list of air corridors deemed safe by the UK on August 22, but the country’s epidemiological situation has since worsened. The 231 new cases of covid-19 registered this Tuesday increased the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days to 22.7, the highest value of this indicator since July 15.
This incidence rate is therefore above the ceiling of 20 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which the United Kingdom has defined as acceptable to allow the movement of tourists without the need for quarantine upon their return. The possibility of closing the air corridors again is on the table, according to the British press.
The UK authorities take into account other data related to the epidemiological situation, such as the trend of the incidence rate, the mortality rate and an assessment of the confidence in the test data and the provision of information. The increase in the incidence rate does not therefore mean that the quarantine on the return will necessarily be imposed again, but Willie Walsh considers that the measure does not make sense.
“Healthy people should not be isolated for 14 days simply because they have been traveling,” he said, considering that the British government has taken a “chaotic position in relation to quarantine.”
“France, but not Italy; Portugal and then Portugal not, and the Canary Islands, hundreds of kilometers from the peninsula ”, he exemplified.
Willie Walsh took the opportunity to advise the British government to introduce measures to ensure passenger safety when flying, as restrictions are hampering economic recovery in the aviation sector. The president suggested the introduction of “a simple testing regime that allows a more differentiated approach to travel from one region to another.”
“Passengers want to travel. Ensuring that flying is safe is the key to any recovery, ”he said.
