Airlines launch quarantine legal challenge
British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet say they have filed a formal legal challenge to the UK government’s quarantine policy.
The airlines say the policy, which came into force this week, will have “a devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and destroy thousands of jobs”.
They have applied for a judicial review at the High Court, and asked for it to be heard as soon as possible.
The challenge claims that:
- the quarantine rules for travellers are more stringent than those applied to people who actually have Covid-19
- there was no consultation and no scientific evidence provided to support the policy
- weekly commuters from France or Germany can be exempted
- the government is preventing people from travelling to and from countries with lower infection rates than the UK
In a statement, the three airlines said they had not seen any evidence on how and when so-called “air bridges” – allowing quarantine-free travel between the UK and other countries with low infection rates – could be implemented.
They have called on the government instead to re-adopt a previous policy, where quarantine was limited to travellers from high-risk countries.
