Flights cannot restart if countries have UK-style 14-day quarantines in place, warns airline body
AIRLINES will not be able to restart flights if countries enforce 14-day quarantines, official airline bodies have warned.
Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), warns that the two-week period would stop travellers going on holiday.
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He explained to ABC: “[Quarantine] is a major deterrent."
He added it "wasn't necessary" and that temperature checks and health checks were a better way of reducing the spread of the virus.
Countries currently enforcing two week quarantines include Spain, Bulgaria, Australia and the UK.
The IATA’s report found quarantine-on-arrival measures would continue to inflict damage on travel confidence.
Its survey of air travellers found 86 per cent were concerned about being quarantined while travelling and 69 per cent would reconsider travelling if it meant being locked down in quarantine for 14 days.
Industry analyst Hans Joergen Elnaes told Skift: "For those UK airlines and travel-related businesses that are already under financial pressure, this quarantine requirement will push them off the cliff if this is to be maintained over time.
“The new quarantine regulation is also likely to cripple airports and prolong recovery from Covid-19."
Holidaymakers could face up to four weeks in quarantine, if being forced to isolate both at the destination and at home.
Airlines are already fearing catastrophic losses - Virgin Australia was the first airline to go into administration during the pandemic, with other carriers facing profit losses.
British Airways has cut 12,000 members of staff while Ryanair has cut 3,000 jobs.
Mr de Juniac explained that the airline industry has faced a loss of $496 billion (£406 billion) in revenue this year due to the worldwide grounding of flights.
He said: “There is a risk that some airlines would go to bankruptcy [without government support]."
Some airlines are already trying to restart a limited flight schedule.
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Wizz Air announced that they would be operating limited routes to Europe, with flights between the UK and Spain, Portugal and Hungary.
Emirates is also restarting flights to nine destinations, including between London and Australia, next month.
Ryanair and Jet2 hope to resume flights by July, while easyJet are yet to announce dates.
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