UK: Aviation bosses raise 'serious concern' over UK quarantine plans

Aviation bosses have torn into Boris Johnson’s plan to impose a 14-day quarantine on people arriving in Britain, warning that it risks worsening the economic impact of Covid-19. In a letter signed by the CEs of easyJet, Heathrow and Gatwick, the industry voiced “collective and serious concern and frustration” and demanded a meeting with the prime minister. It questioned the scientific basis of the quarantine plan, cast doubt on whether it could be enforced and said industry representatives had not been consulted on the proposals before they were announced. “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,” the bosses wrote. “People will simply choose not to travel to and from the UK, at the same time as economies in Europe and around the world begin opening up their borders and removing their own quarantines, making the UK aviation sector unable to compete.” The letter was sent on Monday after the government published a 50-page document outlining its Covid-19 recovery strategy. International travellers will be required to stay in state-arranged accommodation if they cannot show where they plan to self-isolate. People arriving from the Republic of Ireland and France will be exempted from this. The sector is still hoping for some form of bailout to help it survive the crisis.<br/>