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Boris Johnson has been warned by the bosses of the UK’s 20 largest airports that he risks “irreparable damage” to the economy unless he moves to replace the quarantine with Covid-19 testing in the next week.
In a letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor, the signatories, including the heads of Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Luton, give Johnson seven days to give the green light to the tests as one of a series of measures to prevent the loss of up to 110,000 jobs in the aviation and related industries.
Ministers are also considering continuing Wales by sanctioning regional “travel corridors” where visitors to “low risk” islands such as Madeira and the Azores would be exempt from quarantine despite travel bans on the mainland.
The decision could be made on Monday, industry sources say.
It comes as England experienced its highest daily number of coronavirus infections on Sunday since May, when 2,988 new cases were announced, prompting Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ask young people not to “infect their grandparents.”
His appeal came when an influential committee of MPs urged Johnson to act faster to save Britain’s aviation sector. Huw Merriman, chairman of the transportation committee, said his inability to support the tests at the airport was adding “more barriers to travel.”
On Sunday, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, maintained the government’s line that Covid-19 tests on arrival alone were not a “silver bullet” but confirmed that ministers were considering shortening the quarantine of 14 days by introducing two tests, one on arrival and a second. after five or eight days.
