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LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain's plans for travellers to
quarantine for 14 days after arriving in the country will worsen
an already grave situation for the aviation sector, industry
leaders said on Monday, saying that the government needed to set
out a road-map to normality.
The government plans to introduce a quarantine period for
most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak
of the coronavirus outbreak, but has not given a clear
indication of when it will be introduced or for how long it will
last.
The measures might result in the continued grounding of
planes, airport and airline bosses said in a letter to
government, adding they did not know whether this was an
intended outcome of the move as there had been no consultation
with the sector.
"An open-ended quarantine, with no set end-date, will make
an already critical situation for UK aviation, and all the
businesses we support, even worse," said the letter, signed by
industry associations for airlines and airports as well as the
chief executives of easyJet and Heathrow Airport.
"People will simply choose not to travel to and from the UK
... In short, passenger travel cannot restart."
easyJet has grounded its fleet in response to travel
restrictions and low demand, but some airlines are beginning to
restart flights.
Earlier on Monday, Wizz Air's chief executive told
Reuters he needed more details on British quarantine plans
before being able to assess its impact after seeing strong
demand for the routes it has started operating. The the boss of
British Airways owner IAG has also raised concerns about the
quarantine plan.
The letter said there was no clarity on the scientific
advice underpinning the proposals, its geographic scope or
whether it only applied to air travel. The foreign minister said
that ports and airports were included in the proposals, and
France has said it would be excluded from the measures.
The letter added that aviation needed "a road-map to
normality" and any quarantine should be as short as possible,
saying other measures could be used instead.
"We are working at pace with Government to agree a set of
new, effective health protocols guided by the science (such as
face masks and temperature checks) and which can be implemented
at UK airports and onboard as soon as possible," it said.
Asked about support for the aviation sector in parliament on
Monday, Johnson said that companies had access to schemes
designed to support businesses more broadly.
"We will do everything we can to ... keep Britain flying and
get Britain flying again," he said.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Stephen Addison)
