EasyJet says UK reopening lags Europe because of quarantine

EasyJet said a travel restart in the UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe because a 14-day quarantine for people arriving in Britain puts off would-be travelers from flying. The carrier is seeing strong demand away from its home market, CEO Johan Lundgren said Monday. EasyJet, which is one of the first European airlines to begin building up services after the coronavirus lockdown, is seeing fewer bookings in the UK, he said. Lundgren held out some optimism for the self-isolation policy being relatively short-lived, saying he favors so-called air bridges that allowed unfettered travel between low-risk nations, or more targeted quarantines imposed where there’s a specific threat. Britain’s biggest discount carrier is restarting with mainly internal flights in the UK and routes to France. “We’re working very hard to get quarantine measures replaced by something that makes more sense,” Lundgren said. “The U.K. is dampened by the quarantine the government has put here last week, but hopefully as that gets replaced we’ll see demand picking up.”<br/>