IAG parent company of British Airways is leading a legal challenge, backed by LCCs EasyJet and Ryanair, against the UK’s quarantine routine which came into force today
IAG is believed to have sent a pre-action protocol letter , in concert with EasyJet and Ryanair in which they say the quarantine policy introduced by the British government requiring all international arrivals to self-isolate for a period of 14 days is illegal and unfair.
On Friday Ryanair put out a firmly worded statement rejecting the new rules to travellers to the UK as “ineffective and useless” and giving a detailed rebuttal of the flaws in British government proposals.
As part of the rule, all travellers have to fill in a “public health passenger locator” form on arrival in the UK by air, ferry or through the Channel Tunnel rail link. Arrivals, even UK citizens, will need to provide an address where they will self-isolate for two weeks,
Failure to provide an address could result in a £100 fine while those who don't isolate can also be fined £1,000. There are 42 exempted groups, including hauliers and agricultural workers.
Ryanair said for a quarantine to be effective, inbound passengers arriving at ports and airports need to be “detained” at their point of arrival.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said that the proposals are, “completely useless, and will have no effect on British passengers who will largely ignore it. At a time when the medical science across Europe, in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany, have safely removed all inbound visitor restrictions, the imposition of this completely defective quarantine in the UK is utterly useless and a total waste of time,”
Speaking to Sky News on Friday outgoing IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said that that there had been no consultation with the industry prior to the legislation being brought in, and that the new rules would cause major problem for the airline’s, such IAG, Ryanair and EasyJet which are planning to restart operations significantly in July. “We think it is irrational, we think it is disproportionate,” Walsh said.
Ryanair for example is planning to start 1000 flights day from UK airport starting from July 1 and the Irish LCC said it hoped travellers were not deterred from flying to and from Britain, “completely ineffective and useless quarantine measure, which both Priti Pate [UK Home Minister] and Grant Shapps [UK Transport Minister] know cannot be implemented, cannot be policed and has no scientific basis supporting it whatsoever.”
Roughly 40 flights landed at Heathrow this morning from destinations including the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Doha, Bahrain, Ethiopia and across Europe.