Airlines cry foul as new UK quarantine rules begin
Airline bosses are trying to ramp up the pressure on the government to change new coronavirus quarantine rules.
New legislation came into effect on Monday requiring all passengers arriving into the UK to self-isolate for 14 days, with a £1,000 fine for breaking the rules.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG), easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) and Ryanair PLC (LON:RYA) are preparing to send a legal letter this week to apply for a judicial review to try and overturn the new rules, as foreshadowed last week.
The quarantine is designed to prevent a second wave of the pandemic hitting Britain but the airlines argue that the restrictions come too late to be effective and will prevent the industry's recovery.
Ryanair boss Michael OLeary said he thought there was a “high likelihood of success”, in a Reuters TV interview.
Air travel industry bosses were out in force on Monday, with Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, telling Sky News: “I fear that unless there's a change into this, the aviation industry as we know it here in the UK will not be intact.”
Heathrow Airport boss John Holland-Kaye added on the same channel: "If we don't get aviation moving again quickly, in a very safe way, then we are going to lose hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs in the UK."
Thousands of job cuts have already been planned by the airlines, with British Airways announcing plans to axe 12,000 staff as it burns £178mln per week during the pandemic, while easyJet is cutting around 4,500 of its staff and Ryanair planning 3,000 cuts.
Ryanair said will not cancel the near-1,000 daily flights schedule planned from 1 July, around 40% of the level from last summer, even with Read More – Source
