Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced that most airline passengers flying into the UK will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
No further details of the new arrivals policy have been released, but more details are expected to be included in the government’s 50 page ‘blueprint’ and address to the Commons later today (April 11, 2020).
The blueprint should provided some clarity for the travel industry.
On Sunday (April 10, 2020), the PM announced a “conditional plan” to begin lifting England’s coronavirus lockdown. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which has their own powers over lockdown, have rejected the PM’s new ‘stay alert’ slogan, advising citizens to ‘stay home, stay safe’. Northern Ireland has extended the lockdown for a further three weeks.
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Government will introduce a mandatory 14 day self-isolation requirement, Dale Keller, Chief Executive of the Board of Airlines Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) said: “The restart and recovery of aviation is an essential component in getting the UK economy moving again.
“Flying can only recommence in any meaningful way once the 14 day self-isolation requirement is superseded by a carefully coordinated and internationally harmonised approach, incorporating a series of multi-layered and more effective measures that better target and mitigate risk, and provide the confidence that flying is safe.”
In a similar statement, Airlines UK, which represents British Airways, EasyJet and other UK-based airlines, said mandatory quarantine “would effectively kill international travel to and from UK”.
It added: “Nobody is going to go on holiday if they’re not able to resume normal life for 14 days, and business travel would be severely restricted.
“It will also make it all but impossible for aviation to resume any time soon, thereby setting back the UK’s economic recovery still further.”
