British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet have said they have initiated legal action against the United Kingdom government over its “flawed” compulsory 14-day quarantine for international travellers.
The 14-day compulsory quarantine period was introduced earlier this week as part of steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease as UK is one of the countries hit most by the virus.
British residents and overseas visitors are expected to comply with the 14-day quarantine rule or face prosecution or payment of £1,000 ($1,250, 1,125-euro) fine.
Meanwhile, the two-week quarantine directive has generated condemnation from the paralysed aviation sector which has been idle since March due to the pandemic.
The three airlines disclosed that the policy will “have a devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and destroy thousands of jobs”, as such, they have requested for their judicial review “to be heard as soon as possible”.
They added that the legal action was also instituted because “There was no consultation and no scientific evidence provided for such a severe policy.”
Critics have been questioning the British government on why it was bent on adding to the pain of hotels and airlines by cutting down on travel from countries with lesser virus cases.
The airlines did not agree with the move and insisted that the government should bring back measures that were introduced on March 10 which mandated only passengers from “high risk” countries to quarantine.
They added that “This would be the most practical and effective solution and enables civil servants to focus on other, more significant, issues arising from the pandemic while bringing the UK in line with much of Europe which is opening its borders mid-June.”
