(Recasts headline and lead, adds detail, background, BALPA
comments)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Britain's quarantine plans and a
minister's comment that big foreign holidays were unlikely this
year are seriously hindering any travel recovery, said Willie
Walsh the boss of British Airways parent company IAG.
Airlines have been brought to their knees by the coronavirus
pandemic and are making tens of thousands of job cuts to try to
survive.
They had been hoping for a recovery to begin in July, but
Walsh, one of the most experienced airline bosses in the world,
said the British government was seriously damaging the chances
of a recovery.
"The prime minister's decision to quarantine people arriving
in the UK, by air, and the Health Secretary's comments that it
was unlikely that 'big, lavish international holidays' were
going to be possible this summer, have seriously set back
recovery plans for our industry," Walsh said in a letter to
parliament's transport committee on Thursday.
In the letter, which came after he was questioned by British
lawmakers on Monday, Walsh also said that planned consultations
with unions over 12,000 job cuts at British Airways would go
ahead.
"We must act now to secure the maximum number of jobs
possible, consistent with the reality of a structurally changed
airline industry in a severely weakened global economy," he
said.
Walsh said the UK finance minister's extension of a
coronavirus job retention scheme on Tuesday was helpful to the
company, but not enough to save jobs given the deep challenges
faced by the aviation industry.
The quarantine rules, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson
said consist of a 14-day isolaton period for most arrivals from
abroad, will hit travel demand airlines have said.
With planes grounded since late March, IAG had said flights
would restart in July. Another big European airline group
Ryanair plus holiday company TUI Group are also
eyeing a July resumption.
The industry is waiting for more details on the quarantine,
such as when it will start and how long it will last.
BALPA, the UK's pilots union, said the quarantine was too
blunt a tool that would cause further damage to the travel
industry and the economy.
"We have seen no evidence that such a blanket policy is
needed and would strongly urge the government to move to a
targeted and tailored approach according to destination and
risk," BALPA's general secretary Brian Strutton said.
The letter from Walsh also provided the transport committee
with details on refunds, after lawmakers questioned BA's policy.
British Airways has provided cash refunds on 921,000
tickets, he said, adding that there were 47,400 bookings
outstanding which were being processed. Vouchers were accepted
by customers on 346,000 bookings, Walsh said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Michael Holden/Guy
Faulconbridge)