Ryanair says it would cut its Ireland-UK schedules for the months of August and September by up to 1,000 flights, with the loss of over 200,000 passengers, as Ireland maintains a quarantine restriction on EU visitors even as the UK and Northern Ireland last week opened up air bridges to most EU countries.
“Last week when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14 day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland,” said a spokesperson for Ryanair.
The airline said that air travel between Ireland and the UK is being badly damaged by what it calls “ineffective” 14 day quarantine. Ryanair has called on the Irish Government to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland and the EU (almost all of whom have lower Covid case rates than Ireland) “as a matter of urgency, so that Ireland’s hotels, guest houses, restaurants and other tourism providers can recover their business and minimise job losses before we reach the downturn winter period. If Micheál Martin does not quarantine for 14 days after visiting Brussels this week, then why should any other Irish or EU citizen be treated differently”.