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LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - A group of airports and airlines
launched legal action against the British government over its
travel curbs on Friday, challenging ministers to be more
transparent over decisions on rating COVID-19 risks in
destination countries.
The litigation, led by Manchester Airports Group, with
backing from Ryanair, easyJet, British
Airways-owner IAG and TUI UK, is going ahead despite
plans announced by the government on Thursday to allow more
travel.
"British consumers need to understand how decisions are made
so they can confidently plan their travel, which is why we are
asking the government to provide the data and advice that is
underpinning its decision making," the chief executives of the
five companies involved said in a statement.
Britain said fully-vaccinated British residents returning
from medium-risk countries will no longer have to quarantine on
arrival home from July 19, opening up travel for the 65% of
adults who have had two jabs and those aged under 18.
But travel companies say it is still not clear how the
government makes decisions about rating destinations under its
traffic light system where low risk is green, medium risk is
amber and high risk is red.
Despite the coming rule change, the complainants want the
legal action to force a wider re-opening of travel.
There are just a handful of green destinations, many of them
smaller islands. All the big destinations like mainland Spain,
Greece, France and the United States are amber.
That means that even after July 19, travel will remain
restricted and demand dampened, because those who have not had
two vaccine doses, as well as non-UK residents wanting to come
to Britain will face quarantine.
Sixteen months of travel restrictions have put all airlines
and airports under severe financial strain, and they say a
fuller re-opening is required to help their recovery and sustain
millions of jobs.
Their case against the transport minister Grant Shapps was
heard at London's High Court on Friday.
The Department for Transport spokesperson said its traffic
light system cautiously managed the risk of new variants,
adding: "We cannot comment on legal proceedings."
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Toby Chopra)
