UPDATE 2-UK court rules government acted lawfully over COVID travel rules

(Adds comment from UK government)

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - London's High Court on Tuesday
ruled that Britain acted lawfully over its so-called traffic
lights system for travellers entering Britain in a case brought
by Manchester Airports Group (MAG), backed by a number of
airlines.

While the court accepted part of the argument against the
government, it did not find that the transport minister had
acted unlawfully, and the government will not have to disclose
more information on how it reaches decisions over its travel
rules.

The litigation was backed by airlines Ryanair,
easyJet, British Airways-owner IAG, TUI UK and
Virgin Atlantic.

Airports and airlines have criticised the traffic light
system of classifying countries based on their COVID-19 risk,
arguing decisions are not based on data, and slamming
last-minute changes which have hurt bookings.

EasyJet said earlier on Tuesday that Britain's travel
recovery was lagging that in the European Union, blaming its
travel rules.

In a joint statement, MAG and the airline chief executives
called the latest rule changes for arrivals from France
shambolic, and said if the system followed data more countries
would be categorised as green for low-risk travel.

"British businesses and consumers deserve to understand how
the Government takes decisions on the traffic light system so
that they can book their travel with confidence," they said.

The government welcomed the court's decision.

"Our traffic light system continues to cautiously manage the
risk of new variants as we balance the timely reopening of
international travel while safeguarding public health and
protecting the vaccine roll-out," a government spokesman said.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Michael Holden, Alistair
Smout and Nick Macfie)